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Industry reps meet to discuss IP review submission

By | Published on Thursday 13 January 2011

UK Music

Reps from various UK music industry trade bodies met at the offices of cross-sector organisation UK Music yesterday to discuss their submission to a government-instigated review of intellectual property laws (yes, yet another one). The independent review is being led by Professor Ian Hargreaves, who published a call for evidence just before Christmas.

According to Music Week, some music industry chiefs fear the review could be negative towards traditional IP-based industries, such as the record industry, with a co-founder of the Creative Commons movement – which advocates an alternative less commercial approach to copyright – Professor James Boyle, among those on Hargreaves’ team. Others have also said some of the questions Hargreaves has posed can be interpreted as being potentially hostile towards traditional IP systems.

But presumably the review will also give the music industry, and especially the record industry, another opportunity to lobby on some of its favourite issues – the three-strikes system sort of put in place by the Digital Economy Act, the fast-track system for taking copyright infringing websites offline sort of not put in place by the Digital Economy Act, and that old chestnut: extending the copyright term on sound recordings.

Submissions need to be with Prof Ian by 1 Mar, with him due to report his findings back to government types in April. With regards the current government’s attitude towards copyright and wider intellectual property issues, we should probably go and have a good look of the Liberal Democrat’s manifesto from last year’s election. Presumably we can assume the opposite of anything written there represents Nick Clegg and co’s current thinking.



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