Copyright

Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries, has carried out a tracking study into the extent of online copyright infringement in the UK, stemmed from a recommendation in the 2011 Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth. The issued report resulted from a partnership with the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), seeks to provide as comprehensive a dataset as possible to improve and build the necessary evidence base for online copyright infringement policy.

Some interesting key findings on UK individual aged 12+ are:

• Overall volumes of illegal content consumed online varied by category. Volumes were highest for computer software (47% of all computer software products consumed online were estimated to be illegally obtained), followed by films (35%) and music (26%), whereas it was lowest for books (12%);
• When asking infringers why they download or stream/access content illegally, the most common reasons cited for doing so were because it is free (54%), convenient (48%) and quick (44%). Close to a quarter (26%) of infringers also said they do it because it means they can try before they buy;
• Factors that infringers said would encourage them to stop infringing included the availability of cheaper legal services (39%), if everything they wanted was available legally (32%) and if it was clearer what is legal and what isn’t (26%). 

For further information and to read the full report, please click here.

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As a result of the Information Society Directive of 2001, most EU countries have implemented levy schemes. Consequently, according to a recent report commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office, the “total collection from levies on copying media and equipment in the EU tripled, from about €170m to more than €500m per annum.”

However, the levy system is not currently harmonized and therefore last year Commissioner Barnier has appointed Mr. Antonio Vitorino, former EU Commissioner, to be the mediator on the discussions concerning a possible harmonization. Many stakeholders have participated in these discussions, including DIGITALEUROPE, who has recently launched a paper on alternative models. For further information on DIGILTALEUROPE’s paper, please click here.

To read the official statement of Mr. Antonio Vitorino on the mediation process, please click here. The report commissioned by the UK Intellectual Property Office “Private Copying and Fair Compensation: An empirical study of copyright levies in Europe”, is available here.

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Last week, the Council adopted a directive on the access and digitization of orphan works in the EU. In this framework, orphan works are considered to be works (e.g. books, magazines, films) protected by copyright, but whose author is not identified or cannot be located, despite diligent searches.

According to the Council, the “new rules will facilitate the digitization of and lawful cross-border online access to orphan works contained in the collections of libraries, educational establishments, museums, archives, audiovisual heritage institutions and public service broadcasting organizations.”

EU Member States have two years to incorporate these rules in their national laws.

For further information please click here and here.

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Photos, films or poems protected by copyright but whose right holders cannot be found could be made available to the public across the EU, under new legislation approved by the European Parliament on Thursday. The directive will allow anyone to access so-called orphan works, taking forward the project of making Europe's cultural heritage available online.

The text, approved by 531 votes to 11, with 65 abstentions, and informally agreed by Parliament and Council, aims to make it safer and easier for public institutions such as museums and libraries to search for and use orphan works.

The orphan works directive has now to be passed through the European Council and implemented in the respective EU member states.

For further information, please click here, to read the draft directive, here

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At the 2012 Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit hosted by the Lisbon Council, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission (EC) in charge of the digital agenda, kicked-off the Summit with a keynote on Innovation in Creative Industries.

She affirmed that a change is needed in EU copyright regime as Europe is failing to respond to the rapid changes worldwide. “Each day we fail to respond, we are missing out. Consumers miss out on easy, legal access to their favourite products. The creative sector misses out on new markets, new innovations, new opportunities.

We all miss out on new ways to share, recognise, and appreciate our cultural heritage. And our economy overall misses out on the chance of new growth. Even today we see the consequences of that loss. The initiatives we can't seize. The potentially high-flying ideas that get stuck on the runway. The glory and the benefits taken by American companies, not European.

And every day that passes we put ourselves in a yet worse position. I'm afraid Europe can't afford that, not at the moment.”

Ms Kroes said that, although at National level there has been a number of progresses towards this change, “we need a common European solution, to avoid fragmentation and to seize benefits for a European Digital Single Market.” That is why the EC has started a process to assess whether and how the 2001 Copyright Directive needs to be adapted. She concluded that only by taking into account the interests of artists, consumers, businesses and researchers“we can adapt ourselves to the future, and stimulate innovation and growth.”

For further information on Ms Kroes keynotes, please click here.

To access the 2012 Intellectual Property and Innovation Summit and download material, please click here.

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Are you looking for basic information on IP, or are you particularly interested in IP issues related to FP7 projects? Three educational clips recently published on our website provide you with useful information based on the European IPR Helpdesk training catalogue.

In case you are new to the world of patent, copyright, etc. the first educational clip might be the right choice. In just 20 minutes it provides you with basic concepts and definitions of IP and IPR.

If you are looking for more detailed information on IP issues related to EU-funded Collaborative Projects feel free to watch the clips titled “IP in FP7 – Part 1 & 2”. Key aspects and general rules with regard to IP during the entire life cycle of an FP7 project as well as the different agreements are explained to you in a concise way.

You will find our clips here.

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Last week, the European Union participated in the negotiations at WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights to facilitate access to books by visually impaired persons.

Today, only 5% of published books are available in special formats, such as Braille or audio. The European Commission would like to increase these numbers and therefore supports a copyright exception for the benefit of visually impaired people. According to Commissioner Michel Barnier, "our objective is to ensure that visually impaired people can access books as easily as other people. This means making books accessible to them at the same time and at the same price”.

To this end, Commissioner Barnier requested a mandate from the EU Member States to negotiate a binding international treaty on this matter. According to the Commission, “as long as the Commission does not have a negotiating mandate from the Council, it cannot commit to a text.” Commissioner Barnier is committed to get such mandate and stated that “will seize the opportunity of [his] political contacts with the EU Member States to plead in favour of a binding international treaty."

For further information, please click here.

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The European Commission has proposed measures to modernise collecting societies and put in place incentives to promote their transparency and efficiency.

In practice as a result of the proposed Directive:

• Right holders would have a direct say in the management of their rights, be remunerated more quickly and their ability to choose the most efficient collecting society for their purposes would be enshrined in law. This would bring about better protection of right holders' interests, as well as increased access to cultural content for consumers.
• The new rules would change the way in which collecting societies work across Europe, with new requirements such as improved management of repertoire, quicker payments to members, clarity in revenue streams from exploitation of rights, an annual transparency report and additional information provided directly to right holders and business partners (such as other collecting societies).
• The multi-territorial licensing of authors' rights for the use of music on the Internet across borders would befacilitated but also subjected to the demonstration of the technical capacity to perform this task efficiently. This would benefit authors, internet service providers and citizens alike.

For further information, please click here and here.

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