First step taken in copyright consultation process

This morning the British Library (BL) hosted the Intellectual Property Office Copyright Exceptions Consultation launch.

The consultation is the next phase for the government following last year’s recommendations on copyright law from Andrew Gowers. The Gowers review was widely seen as encouraging from a library and scholarly perspective. It recommended exceptions for institutions like library’s and archives from certain elements of copyright law. This could include their ability to format-shift copyrighted works in order to continue their safe preservation.

Outlining his vision for the IP consultation, Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property and Quality, repeatedly called for contributions from interested parties across the board.

Speakers hailed from the British Phonographic Industry, National Consumer Council and British Universities Film & Video Council. Opinions and questions from attendees and speakers alike were sharp but remained civilised.

The minister pointed out that it was necessary to understand that adjustments would need to be made to copyright. The process would be an organic one, as that would be the best way of “staying up-to-date with changes in attitude, culture and technology”   

BL CEO, Lynne Brindley, identified the eminent polarisation present in the debate during her speech. She highlighted to the audience that “Exceptions in copyright law are fundamentally important for the society, culture and economy of a democratic society as, depending on how and where exceptions are allowed.”

Brindley outlined four big questions she believed that the consultation process needed to address;

1. How can we best ensure the interests of rights holders are respected and protected, while at the same time respecting and protecting established exceptions that are present in copyright to engender knowledge, learning and creativity?

2. How can a complex area of law like copyright be simplified to the point of intelligibility, and therefore gain legitimacy amongst the new generation of digital natives who see the right to mix, mash-up and share as being exactly that, a right?

3. How can the democratically established public interest elements of our copyright law, as represented by exceptions, be translated and made relevant in the digital age, when they are being undermined by private contract?

4. To what extent will or should copyright law be harmonised internationally, and to what extent will national differences in law be defensible or desirable on the internet - a world with linguistic but not geographic borders?

If you want to join the debate (deadline is 8 April 2008), get in touch with the UK Intellectual Property Office and email them at copyrightconsultation@ipo.gov.uk, telephone +44 (0) 1633 814 912 or just add your comment on our blog. For a further run down of the morning's events there is an interesting post over at the Open Rights Group site.