Coadec pushes for the UK to adopt progressive IP reforms

Image courtesy of plusonetwo

Posted by Nicholas Stewart

The United Kingdom's Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec) is lobbying David Cameron's Government to adopt the recommendations contained in Professor Ian Hargreaves' May 2011 report Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.

In the context of copyright, Professor Hargreaves is of the opinion that:

… digital technology is transforming copyright, for better and for worse. Infringement is widespread; understanding of the law is poor; millions of works cannot be digitised for conservation or accessed at all and content industry business models are under strain, prompting companies to look to Government for vigorous enforcement action against consumers and suppliers of “pirate” content.

Professor Hargreaves cites examples of inefficiency in copyright licensing in the UK, such as:

• the BBC taking nearly five years to assemble the rights necessary to launch its iPlayer service;
• an online business providing on demand streaming of radio shows and DJ mixes undertaking lobbying of collecting societies for about nine months before it could 'make any headway on licensing';
• other businesses reporting inconsistency in licensing discussions, with some users offered access to licences and others denied access without clear explanation; and
• some businesses threatened with legal action instead of the opportunity to negotiate terms.

He recommends, among other things, that the United Kingdom should establish a Digital Copyright Exchange. Professor Hargreaves says a Digital Copyright Exchange would, for creators of copyright:

• improve routes to market;
• provide a means to record unmistakeably the ownership of rights, and the terms on which they are available;
• provide a clearer understanding of licensing terms and conditions throughout the market;
• increase options available to license an individual creator’s works directly;
• provide a defence against rogue “orphaning” of works, through digital fingerprinting; and
• provide a single point of access to UK collecting societies and eventually to competitor societies in other territories.

Coadec's open letter to the UK Government of 29 June 2011 expresses a belief that:

… the Hargreaves report represents a watershed for this country’s digital economy. The report recognises - as many digital businesses and entrepreneurs have known for a long time - that the nation’s intellectual property laws, and in particular copyright law, must adapt to business, social and technological change.

With the latest developments in cloud computing in the digital music space in the United States (we're thinking Apple's iCloud and iTunes Match products, Google's Google Music Beta and Amazon's Cloud Player), it will be interesting to observe how the UK approaches the regulation of IP in the context of rapidly evolving technologies and platforms.

Partner: Paul Kallenbach