NUJ queries digital copyright exchange proposal in Copyright law review
The National Union of Journalists has described the possible introduction of a digital copyright exchange as being ‘problematic’ in response to the intellectual property report that was released yesterday.
‘Digital Opportunity, A review of intellectual property and growth’ by Profession Ian Hargreaves has issued guidance on reviewing the current copyright laws to bring them up to date with modern technology.
The report says that the Intellectual Property framework is falling behind the times and must be update to meet the demands being faced as a result of the evolution of digital technology.
John Toner, NUJ freelance organiser said that the Union was pleased that the report rejected the ‘fair-use doctrine’ on the notion of fairness which permits the use of a creator’s work without permission, and means the need for large legal costs to challenge.
“The Creators’ Rights Alliance pointed out to Professor Hargreaves that Google continues to claim that its scanning of 15 million books without permission is "fair use" - but, when authors and publishers collectively raised the money to challenge this, found it worthwhile to offer a $125 million settlement. Clearly, this does not reflect a system based on fairness towards the creators of work being made available by other parties,” continued Toner.
He also highlighted the recommendation to introduce a small claims track for IP cases, which the NUJ has long called for.
“This should improve the position of freelance journalists, and the difficulty that they face in enforcing their rights against infringers, whether individuals or – far more often – against the very publishers and broadcasters who in the Digital Economy Act 2010 gained new means by which they may pursue infringements of their own interests.”
However Toner added that the Union had ‘serious concerns’ over the introduction of a digital copyright exchange which it felt would be ‘problematic’ for its members, particularly photographers.
“Equally we would be concerned about the use of extended collective licensing and the impact that this could have: the interests of individual authors and performers and not just ‘the industry’ must be defended in developing and running any such scheme.
“We are particularly disappointed by the refusal to improve moral rights legislation, a request made in a number of submissions from creators’ organisations. It would be a serious anomaly to legislate for the licensing of orphan works without improving the UK’s weak moral rights legislation.
“We will continue to campaign on this point at each stage of the process,” he added.
“It has been NUJ policy for a number of years to call for the replacement of the UK’s current copyright legislation, which tends to treat intellectual property as a commodity, with law in the international mainstream Authors’ Rights tradition. Improved moral rights would be a step in the right direction.”