Sweeping intellectual
property reforms to boost growth and add billions to the economy
The Government
today announced plans to support economic growth by modernising UK
intellectual property laws. Ministers have accepted the
recommendations made in an independent review which estimate a
potential benefit to the UK economy of up to £7.9 billion.
The recommendations were made in May 2011 by Professor Ian
Hargreaves in his report, - ‘Digital Opportunity: A review of
intellectual property and growth’. Modernising intellectual
property law is a key action from the Government’s Plan for
Growth, published in March alongside the Budget, which will help
create the right conditions for businesses to invest, grow and
create jobs.
Announcing the Government’s response to the review, Business
Secretary Vince Cable said:
“The Government is focused on boosting growth and the Hargreaves
review highlighted the potential to grow the UK economy. By
creating a more open intellectual property system it will allow
innovative businesses to develop new products and services which
will be able to compete fairly in the UK’s thriving markets for
consumer equipment.
“We are accepting the recommendations and will now set about
reforming the UK’s intellectual property systems. Opening up
intellectual property laws can deliver real value to the UK
economy as well as the creators and consumers.”
The Chancellor George Osborne said:
“Our future depends on exploiting knowledge and ideas to their
full potential and the Government is committed to build upon this
county’s great strength in intellectual property.
"As part of our Plan for Growth, the Government’s broad
acceptance of the Hargreaves review will make it easier to use
Intellectual Property to create value and growth in the economy
and across our society, in ways that are fair to everyone."
Among the recommendations that have been accepted are:
The UK should have a Digital Copyright Exchange; a digital
market place where licences in copyright content can be readily
bought and sold. The review predicted that a Digital Copyright
Exchange could add up as much as £2 billion a year to the UK
economy by 2020. A feasibility study will now begin to establish
how such an exchange will look and work. The Government will
announce arrangements for how this work will be driven forward
later in the year. Copyright exceptions covering limited private
copying should be introduced to realise growth opportunities.
Thousands of people copy legitimately purchased content, such as a
CD to a computer or portable device such as an IPod, assuming it
is legal. This move will bring copyright law into line with the
real world, and with consumers’ reasonable expectations.Copyright
exceptions to allow parody should also be introduced to benefit UK
production companies and make it legal for performing artists,
such as comedians, to parody someone else’s work without seeking
permission from the copyright holder. It would enable UK
production companies to create programmes that could play to their
creative strengths, and create a range of content for
broadcasters.The introduction of an exception to copyright for
search and analysis techniques known as ‘text and data mining’.
Currently research scientists such as medical researchers are
being hampered from working on data because it is illegal under
copyright law to do this without permission of copyright owners.
The Wellcome Trust has said that 87 per cent of the material
housed in the UK’s main medical research database is unavailable
for legal text and data mining, that is despite the fact that the
technology exists to carry out this analytical work.Establishing
licensing and clearance procedures for orphan works (material with
unknown copyright owners). This would open up a range of works
that are currently locked away in libraries and museums and
unavailable for consumer or research purposes.That evidence should
drive future policy – The Government has strengthened the
Intellectual Property Office’s economics team and has begun a
programme of research to highlight growth opportunities. One
report has already shown that investments made by businesses in
products and services that are protected by intellectual property
rights (IPRs) are worth £65 billion a year.
Alongside the Government response, a new intellectual property
crime strategy and international strategy for intellectual
property have been published.
The crime strategy outlines how the Intellectual Property Office
will continue to enforce IP crime issues domestically. Counterfeit
goods often use other company’s trade marks or infringe their
copyright, which can lead to financial losses. The international
strategy sets out the UK’s five year vision to get the
international IP framework in the best possible shape to support
innovation and growth. Patent backlogs cost the global economy up
to £7.4 billion a year.
Minister for Intellectual Property Baroness Wilcox said:
“Intellectual property is a key UK export and global trade in IP
licenses alone is worth more than £600 billion a year. UK
businesses need to have confidence in the international IP
framework so they are able to create and exploit value from their ideas.”
The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) has also laid
out the next steps for implementing the mass notification system
in the Digital Economy Act. This involves letters being sent to
internet account holders when their internet connection has been
identified as linked to unlawfully shared copyright material.
The letters aim to educate people about copyright and point them
toward legitimate content. They also seek to inform subscribers
their internet connection may have been used by others to
unlawfully share copyright material. For example parents may be
unaware their children are using their internet connection to
unlawfully share copyright material.
The Government has decided to introduce a £20 fee for subscribers
wishing to appeal detected instances of unlawful sharing of
copyright material they have been notified about. The fee will be
refunded if the appeal is successful.
A report by Ofcom, which is published today, identifies a risk of
the system being overwhelmed by vexatious appeals from people
determined to disrupt the system. Government expects that a £20
fee should deter appeals without deterring genuine appeals.
Ofcom was also asked to consider whether the site-blocking
provisions in the Digital Economy Act would work in practice. The
Act contains reserve powers to allow courts to order that websites
dedicated to copyright infringement are blocked. The regulator
concluded the provisions as they stand would not be effective and
so the Government will not bring forward the Act’s site-blocking
provisions at this time.
Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey said:
“We need a copyright system fit for the digital age. Creating
these new exceptions to copyright will enable innovators to
develop new products and services.
“But it is essential that businesses have the right tools to
protect their hard work and investment in the digital age.
“The UK’s creative industries are a key part of our economy but
online copyright infringement poses a real threat to their
continued success.
“Our creative industries must be able to protect their products
and the Digital Economy Act will help them do that.”
Notes to editors
The Government's response to Professor Hargreaves’
independent review is available here:
http://www.bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2011/Aug/reforming-ip
An example of where an exception to copyright for search and
analysis techniques known as “text and data mining” is an issue is
in the research for malaria cures. A Thai based research unit
wants to make 1,000 journals available offering potential insights
into treating malaria today. Researchers would like to text mine
them – copy the articles in order to run software seeking patterns
that would assist their work. However, because many of the authors
are unknown it is impossible to establish who owns the copyright
to them. The papers remain unavailable to researchers. This
appears out of proportion to any benefit the authors of the
articles would be likely to want if they could be found.
The Hargreaves report said that the introduction of exceptions
to parody could have a positive impact on economic growth in the
UK. He also suggests there will be a wider social and cultural
benefit in terms of freedom of expression. Comedy is big business
and video parody is becoming ever more popular. An example of
homemade parody - Newport State of Mind (based upon Empire State
of Mind) achieved great success on YouTube in 2010 but resulted in
action by the rights holders to have it removed under UK copyright
law.
The full Government response, along with the IP International
Approach and IP Crime Strategy are available on the IPO website
www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresponse.
‘Digital Opportunity: A review of intellectual property and
growth’ is available on the review website
www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is within the Department
for Business, Innovation, and Skills (BIS) and is responsible for
the national framework of Intellectual Property rights, comprising
patents, designs, trade marks and copyright.
Its role is to help manage an IP system that encourages
innovation and creativity, balances the needs of consumers and
users, promotes strong and competitive markets and is the
foundation of the knowledge-based economy.
It operates in a national and an international environment and
its work is governed by national and international law, including
various international treaties relating to Intellectual Property
to which the United Kingdom is a party.
The Government has published a policy statement on the next
steps of the Digital Economy Act at LINK to supplement the
information in the Government response to the Hargreaves Review.
Ofcom’s reports on the Digital Economy Act provisions on
site-blocking and the appeals process can be found
http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/.
For more information about the Digital Economy Act from DCMS
please visit http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/default.aspx
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Joe Upton
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Joe.Upton@bis.gsi.gov.uk