Archive for January, 2012

Digital Copyright Exchange- call for evidence

Published by Sarah Fahmy on January 12, 2012 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

What is the Digital Copyright Exchange?

The Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth recommended that:

“In order to boost UK firms’ access to transparent, contestable and global digital markets, the UK should establish a cross sectoral Digital Copyright Exchange… A range of incentives and disincentives will be needed to encourage rights holders and others to take part. Governance should reflect the interests of participants, working to an agreed code of practice.”

In its Response, the Government has stated that it wants to see a DCE, or something like it, to speed up copyright licensing and thus enable new business opportunities.

Brief History

  • April 2010 – The Digital Economy Act receives Royal Assent.
  • November 2010 – Prime Minister David Cameron announces an independent review of how the Intellectual Property framework supports growth and innovation.
  • May 2011 – Professor Ian Hargreaves published his Independent review of IP & growth including 10 recommendations. One of which is for the creation of the world’s first Digital Copyright Exchange.
  • August 2011 – The Government publishes its response to the Hargreaves review which accepts all ten of Professor Hargreaves’ recommendations. The Government’s goal is to have measures in place by the end of this Parliament
  • November 2011 – Richard Hooper is appointed by the Government to conduct a feasibility study on implementing a Digital Copyright Exchange in the UK. The purpose of the exchange, which was first proposed in the Hargreaves Review of IP and Growth last May, would be to allow content users to license copyrighted material from rights-holders simply and transparently through an online platform.

What are the benefits of the Digital Copyright Exchange?

It is hoped that this will make it easier for rights owners, small and large, to sell licences in their work and for others to buy them. It will make market transactions faster, more automated and cheaper. The result will be a UK market in digital copyright which is better informed and more readily capable of resolving disputes without costly litigation.

How will the Digital Copyright Exchange be implemented?

Richard Hooper has been tasked with conducting a feasibility study on implementing a DCE. The study will be done in two phases. Phase 1 is diagnostic, looking at what are the issues surrounding copyright licensing in and for the digital age. Phase 2 will examine and recommend the range of potential solutions to any issues found.

The study is currently in phase 1. Richard is meeting with a range of stakeholders interested in the Digital Copyright Exchange idea, and he has put together a number of events where he can talk specifically to digital startups who act (or are trying to act) as content licensees.

Essential to the process are detailed, productive and candid discussions about the issues startups currently face in licensing matters and how a digital exchange could help address those.

Where can I find the Call for Evidence? 

The Call for Evidence document available on the IPO website.

Made in Digital Britain/ UK

Published by Sarah Fahmy on January 10, 2012 in Audience, Business models, Public information and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Stuart Dempster, Director of the Strategic Content Alliance, writes on the potential for a national brand on UK-created or originated digital content

Could lessons from the past help deliver economic growth and enhance online reputational value for content creators contributing to the ‘digital economy’ in the UK today? Could a ‘Made in Digital Britain/UK’ help us demonstrate quality and value in a global market? Sure terms like ‘Britain’ and ‘UK’ are politically loaded terms it seems these days, but the variants cited above may provide a way in which either ‘UK PLC’ or the home nations could express their digital offer in a more compelling way.

 As we enter the second decade of the Digital Revolution, we see a propensity of policy and strategy reports highlighting the UK’s credentials for innovation and entrepreneurship through the exploitation of digital technologies, alongside disappointingly numerous impact and quality initiatives. Many of these originate from publicly funded agencies, all keen to stress their digital credentials. Yet, a simple ‘tag’ – graphic, metadata or other expression of ‘Made in Digital Britain/UK’ might help us stress the UK ’s unique contribution to this digital revolution in an increasing complex and cluttered online market.

Politicians and other policy makers might begin to see the ‘value proposition’ of digital content, whether it be games, multimedia or other assets being generated at an extraordinary rate in the UK as a measureable and valuable contribution towards a truly digital economy. This may be considered a ‘jingoistic’ or somehow part of a ‘new imperialism’, but if the UK is to succeed in this new paradigm and adopt affordable solutions to market its unique skills, expertise and knowledge in a global market, then perhaps the lessons of the 19th century might help inform the opportunities of the 21st century.

Needless to say, the term ‘Made in Digital Britain/UK’ (or home nation variants) might be applied selectively in the first instance to digital content originating from ‘assured suppliers’ in the public and private sectors perhaps? We would want this ‘trusted’ identifier to be considered the modern day equivalent to today’s ‘Rolls Royce’ rather than yesterdays ‘British Leyland’ in terms of international reputation.

We could envisage a raft of reasons why this tactic might be misguided, impossible to instigate or plain wrong, but just how many meetings, conferences or other resource intensive activity on ‘impact’ or ‘quality’ will we have to endure before we can offer the world a ‘trusted’ identifier that marks out what is truly ‘unique, valuable and difficult to emulate’ from the British (English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh perhaps) digital offer.