The UK Government's Consultation on Copyright

The pace of change affecting UK and EU copyright law shows no sign of abating in 2012. The UK government has launched a consultation on some potentially important changes, in particular to exceptions to copyright and to fair dealing laws. This follows the review undertaken by the Hargreaves Committee last year. Responses to the consultation have to be in by 21 March 2012.

Of particular importance to authors and publishers is Hargreaves' proposal for a Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE). Hargreaves' recommendation is for a DCE that will lower the cost and simplify the process of copyright licensing in the UK. In 2011, Richard Hooper was appointed by the government to undertake an independent study as to the feasibility of establishing a DCE and he has now called for evidence from stakeholders within the creative industries.

Important to STM, journal and other academic publishers is the government's proposal to create a new exception to copyright law especially to allow text and data mining for non-commercial research. The proposed change will allow data miners access to publishers' collections without licence or payment provided that the access is solely for non-commercial purposes. Any extension of the exception to include commercial research would require Europe level approval. In its proposal, the government indicates that it is also planning to lobby its European partners to amend the law to allow data mining for commercial purposes. The consultation paper asks for evidence on the costs, benefits and alternative solutions to the proposed data mining exception.

Other proposed exceptions include parodies, a private copying exception to allow non-commercial copying from one format to another and widening the criticism and review exception to allow other quotations from copyright works.

The proposed changes are likely to impact on all aspects of the publishing industry. Indeed, in his keynote presentation at the 2011 Futurebook conference, Stephen Page, CEO of Faber, urged publishers to become “champions of copyright” and contribute to public debate and consultations on the subject (The Future of Publishing: Futurebook Conference 2011). The Publishers Association and the Society of Authors have already made submissions to the Hargreaves consultation and the PA will be providing further evidence for the consultation.

If you or your organisation are considering contributing to the consultation and would like to discuss its implications, please email Shireen Peermohamed.

Here is our summary of the consultation on copyright and we will be reporting in more detail before the consultation period closes in March. Please email Alex Hardy if you would like to receive further updates on this subject.

25 January 2012