Today, Professor Ian Hargreaves of Cardiff University has published his report 'Digital Opportunity', a review and commentary on the current UK copyright law framework.  The report provides the Government with proposals for a new legislative framework, with an aim to "promote innovation...and enhance the economic potential of the UK's creative industries."

The Hargreaves report is the culmination of a six-month independent review following an announcement by David Cameron in November 2010, that UK intellectual property laws needed to be reconsidered on the basis that they were not appropriate for an age in which creativity and innovation is largely internet-based.

The 10 recommendations in the report look at a variety of policy areas and Hargreaves draws attention to the relationship between copyright laws and the potential for UK economic growth, which will be of interest to a number of different governmental departments, in particular the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department of Education.

The key recommendations are as follows:

  • Evidence: Hargreaves recommends that policy and legislative decisions are made on the basis of economic evidence.  In doing this, the Government will need to strike a balance between economic growth objectives, benefits and implications for copyright owners, and the impact on consumers.
  • Copyright Licensing: The UK Government needs to establish a 'Digital Copyright Exchange' which would be a digital common marketplace for the buying and selling of copyright licenses.  Hargreaves further recommends that the Government actively support the recommendations for a European cross-border licensing framework.
  • Orphan Works: At present, there are a number of copyrighted works that cannot be accessed or licensed because the author is either unknown or untraceable.  Today's report proposes that the Government introduce a system whereby orphan works can be licensed legally on a mass-scale.  This was a matter removed from the Digital Economy Act at the last minute.
  • Limits to Copyright: The Government needs to update what kind of copying is legal, i.e. copying for private purposes such as moving music from a laptop to an iPod, format shifting, and digital copying of academic works.
  • An IP system responsive to change: Hargreaves has proposed that the UK Intellectual Property Office is given increased powers so to ensure that the UK IP framework can be monitored and adapted in respect of economic and technological changes.

Today's report has been welcomed by the Government and it will be very interesting to see how the legislation develops in light of this significant review. The Government have recognised that our current copyright laws have not kept up to speed with business and technological development, and the way in which millions of consumers use digital technology in their daily lives.  As Professor Hargreaves commented, "we are in danger of trying to run a modern highways system with a highway code last revised in Edwardian England."

© MacRoberts 2011

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