Key organisations call for 'legislative clarity' in the field of copyright

Current copyright legislation is complex and fails to address the requirements for providing and using content in the digital age. This has a ‘limiting effect’ on the UK’s knowledge economy.

This is the view of four organisations which have submitted a joint declaration in response to the Gowers Copyright consultation. The four organisations – Jisc, the British Library, the National Health Service National Institute for Innovation and Learning and the Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) – are members of the Strategic Content Alliance, a cross-sectoral collaboration working to break down barriers of access to online content.

The declaration, signed by the most senior representatives of the four organisations – Dr Malcolm Read, Dame Lynne Brindley, Roy Clare CBE and Julian Denny – calls for ‘legal certainty’ regarding copyright exceptions which, it says, ‘will help to ensure that activities necessary for the fulfilment of the public good, education and culture can be fully carried out’.

These exceptions - which are ‘applicable to all types of content and digital forms of delivery’ - will, the declaration continues, ‘allow us to engage with content, care for our collections and provide access to them in the long term’. The four organisations call for an engagement with the UK Intellectual Property Office about the proposed changes to the copyright exceptions and their likely impact on education, heritage and cultural sectors, sectors which are, says the statement, ‘collectively… one of the most important contributors to the Knowledge Economy.’

Project director of the Strategic Content Alliance, Stuart Dempster, said: ‘The declaration makes it clear that the rights of rights owners need to be protected and that we all have an important role in helping to educate users of online content in the issues involved. It sets out the case for greater clarity and helps inform the UK Intellectual Property Office of the need for reform across the digital domain for the benefit of all.’

The Strategic Content Alliance – a collaboration of seven public sector information organisations - is aiming to deliver a UK Content Framework in spring 2009. Among its recent activities is a workshop on sustainability and revenue models for delivering online academic content, in partnership with US organisation Ithaka. This event is to be followed by a similar workshop in New York next month. (For further information, please go to: http://sca.jiscinvolve.org/2008/04/10/report-sustainability-and-revenue-...)

For the full text of the joint declaration on copyright, please go to: www.jisc.ac.uk/contentalliance