we7 CEO praises copyright law review
Music streaming service we7 has welcomed the news that changes could be made to copyright law to bring it upto date with the digital age.
Today's Digital Opportunity Report suggests that changes made to the law around intellectual property could benefit the UK economy by £7.9bn.
These changes could include refining the rules around copying music from one source to another - such as the transfer of music from CDs to iPods.
Steve Purdham, the CEO of we7, said: “Anything that simplifies the licensing of copyright material will benefit the digital industries, especially in terms of innovation and growth, but it must equally protect the value of that copyright [and I particularly welcome the idea of cross border licensing].
"Modifying copyright laws so that it reflects the real world again should be embraced. I like the common sense approach that the report has suggested, especially realising that a combination of education, markets and enforcement need to work together.
“I believe that as long as we can protect IP, the focus and delivery of simpler licensing can be the catalyst for significant innovation and growth and in turn create more value for copyright."
Another recommendation made by the report is an online copyright shop which allows licenced content to be bought and sold.
Emily Devlin, intellectual property lawyer at law firm Osborne Clarke, described the Hargreaves Review as ‘pragmatic’ but added that she believed that the UK should “pursue its international interests in IP" to more radical proposals such as a Digital Copyright Exchange.
“Hargreaves recommends implementing a Digital Copyright Exchange that licenses ‘orphan’ works and provides a one-stop rights clearance shop. That's a great idea and one which will capture the imagination of many UK digital business and creative companies.
“With such a broad brief it was inevitable that his recommendations were going to be general proposals. It would be interesting to see more detail, particularly in areas like anti-counterfeiting, access to IP advice for smaller companies and the problems of patent thicketing,” she added.
Mark Owen, head of the intellectual property practice at media and entertainment law firm Harbottle & Lewis, said that the review was unlikely to frighten rights-owners but had identified areas in which IP rights and management could be improved.
"Many of the review's suggestions are around copyright licensing. It will be interesting to see whether government can actually do anything here, other than encourage existing negotiations to continue,” he added.
"There are good ideas in other areas, such as the often overlooked field of design protection, where the laws are an impenetrable thicket and do little to help anyone. The idea of a small claims IP court is also a good one. Even for large companies UK litigation is expensive, especially compared with Germany which has more sensible answers to many IP issues.”