Intellectual Property Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) seeking information about a government announcement in 2022 to introduce a new copyright and database exception which would allow Text and Data Mining ‘for any purpose’. The IPO disclosed some information in response to the request but withheld further information on the basis of section 21 (information reasonably accessible by the applicant) , sections 27(1)(a) and (b) (international relations), section 35(1)(a) formulation or development of government policy), section 40(2) (personal data), section 41(1) (information provided in confidence) and section 42(1) (legal professional privilege). The Commissioner’s decision is that the exemptions cited provide a basis to withhold the requested information and that for the qualified exemptions the public interest favours maintaining these exemptions. However, only exception to this finding is in relation to the documents which have been withheld only on basis of section 35(1)(a). Whilst such information is exempt on the basis of this exemption, the Commissioner has found that public interest in disclosure of this information outweighs the public interest in maintaining the exemption.