Hooper and Lynch (2012a)
Contents
Source Details
Hooper and Lynch (2012a) | |
Title: | Rights and wrongs: Is copyright licensing fit for purpose for the digital age? |
Author(s): | Hooper, R., Lynch, R. |
Year: | 2012 |
Citation: | Hooper, R., & Lynch, R. (2012). Rights and wrongs: Is copyright licensing fit for purpose for the digital age? The first report of the Digital Copyright Exchange feasibility study, IPO. |
Link(s): | Definitive , Open Access |
Key Related Studies: | |
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About the Data | |
Data Description: | The Study received 117 responses to the Call for Evidence.
90 face to face meetings with individuals and organisations in the creative industries. |
Data Type: | Primary data |
Secondary Data Sources: | |
Data Collection Methods: | |
Data Analysis Methods: | |
Industry(ies): | |
Country(ies): | |
Cross Country Study?: | No |
Comparative Study?: | No |
Literature review?: | No |
Government or policy study?: | Yes |
Time Period(s) of Collection: |
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Abstract
The Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE) feasibility study considers options for developing a functional digital market in rights clearance and a source of information about rights ownership, as recommended by the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth and accepted by the Government.
The feasibility study examines available evidence and brings together industry partners and sectors of the creative world to create a framework for a distributed rights exchange and the necessary supporting systems to allow a functioning licensing system.
This Study has concluded on the basis of the evidence collected that copyright licensing processes in the UK compare well with other countries in the world but there is much that still could be improved.
Main Results of the Study
The main findings of this feasibility report are:
- From all the available evidence that copyright licensing processes in the UK compare well with other countries in the world.
- Copyright licensing can be made more streamlined, easier and cheaper to use, especially for the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which make up 90% of the creative industries, without eroding the rights of rights owners.
- The UK has, for example, more digital music services operating (70+) than any other country.
- As a result, innovation will be further encouraged and an ever more diverse array of fixed and mobile digital services across all media types (moving pictures, still pictures, text, music, mixed media) can be expected, driving economic growth across the UK’s creative and technology industries.
- There is no evidence of significant problems in the computer games industry, the public performances/theatre sector, nor in the corporate use of copyright licensing.
- The study did identify problems in a range of other market segments and industry sectors.
- If copyright licensing can be made yet more streamlined, even easier and cheaper to use, without eroding the rights of rights owners, then an ever more diverse array of digital services across all media types (moving pictures, still pictures, text, music) can be stimulated, leading to more innovation and faster economic growth in the creative and technology industries.
- The study identified specific problems that need attention in:
- Libraries, archives and museums
- Educational institutions
- The audiovisual industry (feature films and television)
- The publishing industry (newspapers, magazines, books and journals)
- The music industry
- The images industry (still pictures, photo libraries, artworks)
- Those problems can be summarised as follows:
- Complexity of processes
- Complexity of organisations
- Repertoire imbalance between the digital and physical worlds
- The difficulty in finding out who owns what rights to what content in what country
- The difficulty in accurately paying to creators the fair share of revenues created by their copyright content
- The labour-intensiveness, expense and difficulty of licensing copyright for the high volume low value transactions that characterise the digital world
- The lack of common standards and of a common language for sharing rights information across creative sectors and across national borders
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
"Having established what is wrong and right with current copyright licensing and where it is and is not fit for purpose for the digital age, both at the market segment/industry sector level and at the level of the creative industries taken together, the work now moves to Phase 2 – Seeking Solutions.
Solutions should ideally:
• Be industry-led and industry-funded • Be cross-sector and international in focus • Be voluntary but with clever use of available incentives to take part • Be clear, open and freely accessible • Not necessarily require primary legislation (the IPO’s parallel consultation may require legislation) • Reduce copyright infringement and the incentives to infringe copyright • Increase competition where appropriate by getting the right balance between the benefits of one-stop shops and the disadvantages of monopolies • Increase overall size of market, drive economic growth and innovation • Meet the needs of consumers and citizens; ie maximise wider social benefits • Be trusted, authoritative, confidence-giving and flexible • Create new value, not just concern themselves with fixing what is wrong. • Build on existing IT standards that the industry has and is developing • Build on the large IT investments that the industry has already made • Build on existing DCEs and DCE-like systems and not indulge in NIH (Not Invented Here) • Fill gaps and solve real problems rather than duplicate and reinvent the wheel • Focus solutions on those parts of the creative industries where it is agreed that there are real cases for improvement and modernisation in copyright licensing for the digital age • Be aware of and protect the rights of creators, and recognise and protect the investment in content"
Coverage of Study
Datasets
Sample size: | 117 |
Level of aggregation: | Responses to Calls for Evidence |
Period of material under study: | 2012 |
Sample size: | 90 |
Level of aggregation: | Individual |
Period of material under study: | 2011-12 |