Hargreaves Review of IP published today

Dear reader

The Hargreaves Report was published today: Download A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth (2). You can also read the IP Minister's accompanying message here: Download Message from Baroness Wilcox Minister for Intellectual Property. The the team led by Professor Hargreaves are to be congratulated for delivering the Report virtually on time.

The Report is over 100 pages and, in addition to proposed changes to UK copyright law, will also set the tone for the UK’s approach to legislative change at a European level, notably in respect of the proposed solution for ‘orphan works' based on diligent search and collective licensing.

Big caveat: I have only had time to take a very quick glimpse at what is a very important body of work, which of course goes well beyond copyright to other areas of IP. With that caveat, here are some 'topline' comments.

Broadly, the Hargreaves Report will be welcomed by the creative industries, but there are some real concerns, if not devils, in the detail on copyright law. ‘21^st century licensing’ is the focus of its proposed changes to copyright, where the aim is to make the system work in line with current technology. Dealing with orphan works, cross-border licensing and its proposal for a Digital Copyright Exchange all come within this category.

That said, there are some important changes proposed to copyright exceptions, including a limited ‘format shifting’ exception for private non-commercial purposes and a proposed exception for parody. There are some other changes to copyright exceptions proposed as well, picking up from the Gowers Report and a significant proposed, and potentially controversial one, for ‘data mining’ and also recommendations about extended collective licensing. Importantly, the Hargreaves Report rejects the Google-inspired idea of importing the US ‘fair dealing’ exception into UK copyright law.

 A more detailed analysis will follow, weighing 'winners' and 'losers' across the copyright spectrum.

Enjoy reading.

Regards,

Laurie Kaye

Comments

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The report is great, in addition to the proposed copyright law also set the tone for the approach of legislative changes in the.

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