COPYRIGHT HUB


WELCOME TO THE COPYRIGHT HUB


The Copyright Hub, a UK government scheme that seeks to simplify the licensing of copyright online, kicked off in July 2013. TB&I spoke to the launch group’s chair,


Richard Hooper, to find out how the project will help the creative industry.


In November 2011 UK business secretary Vince Cable commissioned an independent review of


digital copyright licensing and licensing organisations.


He appointed Richard Hooper, the former deputy chairman of Ofcom, the UK’s independent regulatory


body for the communications


industries, to do the research. Aſter eight months working closely with the UK’s music, publishing, audiovisual and images industries, Hooper, along with his colleague Ros Lynch, released the report Copyright works: streamlining copyright licensing for the digital age.


In the paper, Hooper and Lynch highlighted some of the aspects of the copyright licensing process that make it unfit for the digital age, such as the cost of licensing and the delay creators experience in receiving reimbursement for their works, and offered a series of solutions.


Tey recommended creating the not-for-profit, industry-led, UK-based Copyright Hub that has an interoperable and scalable link to the “growing national and international network of private and public sector digital copyright exchanges”, based on “voluntary, opt-in, non-exclusive and pro-competitive principles”.


With the Hub, Hooper hopes to streamline the copyright process for individuals and small companies, and address any misunderstandings about it.


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“Historically, around the world,” he says, “the conversation goes: there is a problem with copyright. Terefore we change the law.


“With my work I’m challenging that automatic assumption,” he says.


“Tere is a problem with copyright, and there may be a need to make some changes to the law, but how about looking more closely at how copyright licensing and processes are done to make sure that they wouldn’t solve the problem?”


By streamlining licensing processes, he adds, politicians are better placed to be more “vigorous and rigorous” about copyright enforcement and combating piracy.


“It’s got quite a strong political dimension.”


How it works Te Hub has a three-pronged approach. First it seeks to help the layperson navigate the complex landscape of copyright, by explaining clearly what it is, what it protects, and what the law says about it.


Hooper says Internet users are less likely to infringe copyright if they understand it, which a recent Ofcom study confirms.


Analysing Internet user activity between November 2012 and January 2013, the third wave of Ofcom’s Online Copyright Infringement Tracker report, published in May 2013, found


Trademarks Brands and the Internet Volume 2, Issue 3 www.worldipreview.com


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