Digital Opportunity: A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth: An Independent Report by Professor Ian Hargreaves

"Digital communications technology involves routine copying of text, images and data, meaning that copyright law has started to act as a regulatory barrier to the creation of certain kinds of new, internet based businesses....The Prime Minister asked the Review to consider whether our IP framework needs to adapt in the interests of encouraging innovation and growth. The Review’s conclusion is that such adaptation is required, especially in the area of copyright....Throughout the Review, we have sought to base our judgments on economic evidence and we advise Government to frame its policy decisions on that basis....Government should take long overdue action to update copyright law in ways designed to increase consumer confidence in the way the law works. It should begin by legislating to release for use the vast treasure trove of copyright works which are effectively unavailable – “orphan works” – to which access is in practice barred because the copyright holder cannot be traced. This is a move with no economic downside....Copying should be lawful where it is for private purposes, or does not damage the underlying aims of copyright....The UK has chosen not to exercise all of its rights under EU law to permit individuals to shift the format of a piece of music or video for personal use and to make use of copyright material in parody. Nor does the UK allow its great libraries to archive all digital copyright material, with the result that much of it is rotting away. Taking advantage of these EU sanctioned exceptions will bring important cultural as well as economic benefits to the UK. Together, they will help to make copyright law better understood and more acceptable to the public. In addition, there should be a change in rules to enable scientific and other researchers to use modern text and data mining techniques, which copyright prohibits....[N]othing [should be] unusable [just] because the rights owner cannot be found....A work should only be treated as an orphan if it cannot be found by search of the databases involved in the proposed Digital Copyright Exchange....The UK should also promote at EU level an exception to support text and data analytics....The Government should also legislate to ensure that these and other copyright exceptions are protected from override by contract...."