Gloves come off at BL debate

You may have thought that with no representatives from nasty media corp inc that the roundtable convened by the British Library to discuss the role of authors and publishers in the digital age may have been akin to a love in. Wrong, the discussion which was part of BL’s contribution to the intellectual property debate was a no holds barred conversation which aired plenty of views but which came to few real conclusions. Writes Peter Williams

Tracy Chevalier, (novelist Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels) Chair of the Society of Authors made a list of radical suggestions to secure payment to those who create the written word. My favourite was the idea of a book licence similar to the TV licence. Do you think TV detector vans could be modified? Next up was Simon Juden, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association who clashed mightily with Charles Leadbeater, author of We Think and associated of think-tank Demos.

Leadbeater accused the publishing industry of grabbing legislative or other devices to prop up an unsustainable position. The lesson he had learned from earning his living in the media (TV, newspapers, books, online and live) was that you got paid for what was scarce and if that meant turning up to perform live then go for it. Juden’s argument was that the publishing industry was a £5bn unsung success story of the British economy and it was already showing nerve, verve, creativity and innovation in facing up to the challenges and rigours of the digital age.

The big challenge is to find the sustainable business model. For him the future was exciting, honest. As for Mike Holderness freelance science write editor of www.londonfreelance.org , he said it was important for culture and democracy that authors could live on the proceeds of their created works. He said it was important to resist the (mostly US) free market notion that copyright is monopoly and should be stamped out. The other idea that, he said had to be resisted is the tecchy idea that geek code is law.

The only conclusions that chair Dame Lynne Brindley chief executive of BL could draw from the highly entertaining debate is that this is an industry in turmoil. Can’t argue with that.

To listen to a podcast of the event go to www.bl.uk/ip.

By the way can I assert my moral right to be identified as the author of this piece?