News: Digital Britain
On 16 June Lord Carter published the Government’s long-awaited Digital Britain report. A significant proportion of the report is aimed at the creative industries, with the most anticipated proposals being those aimed at addressing peer-to-peer filesharing. But despite the media’s focus on this topic, there are plenty of other issues in the report which stand to affect publishers.
Piracy is the chief reason for the publishing industry’s interest in Digital Britain. The report proposes that Ofcom will require ISPs, which it already regulates, to notify subscribers who are identified as infringing copyright online. If after a year this has not brought about a 70% reduction in filesharing, then Ofcom will be expected to use its backstop powers to introduce further measures. These could include blocking sites and limiting the speed of users’ connections. In reality it could be up to three years before these backstop powers are triggered, despite the fact that industry already strongly suspects their necessity is a foregone conclusion. See this article in the Bookseller for further comment on this issue.
Additionally the report proposes legislative reform to deal with the problem of orphan works. The aim of the reform would be to enable commercial schemes for orphan works to be established on a regulated basis, meaning that operators of orphan work schemes would be able to grant rights without the consent of rightsholders and to be freed from the risk of criminal liability. It is not yet clear who the operators of the orphan works schemes would be, although Government expects to consult on this over the coming months.
The report also refers to recommendations from the Gowers review which have yet to be taken forward. One of these recommendations is copyright exceptions for distance learning and preservation of archive material, for which the draft text of a statutory instrument is expected later in the year. The PA has already submitted detailed responses to previous consultations on this issue and expects the closing stages to be relatively uncontroversial and straightforward.
Government has also revealed that it plans to look more closely at the potential of extended collective licensing for a variety of applications. This practice, which is popular in Nordic countries, would allow a collecting society to assume a mandate to collect fees on behalf of rightsholders who have not specifically signed up. Whilst potentially helpful as part of a response to the issue of orphan works we remain sceptical as to the value of a wider application, and we are working closely with our European counterparts to assess the potential merits and disadvantages of such a scheme.
The report signals Government's intention to bring forward a number of consultations over the coming months, as pressure builds on the legislative calendar and Labour presses ahead with the most important issues on its agenda ahead of a general election. All of which means 2009 is set to continue to be a busy year for copyright.