Gowers update

Over a year since Andrew Gowers made his recommendations for the reform of IP law, the UK Intellectual Property Office has finally announced a date for the first stage of a two-part consultation into modifications to the copyright rules so that private individuals, students and libraries can benefit from improved access to copyright material. A launch event will take place on 8 January at the British Library, and all interested parties are welcome to attend. Email copyrightconsultation [AT] ipo.gov.uk with your name, job title and the company or organisation you represent if you want to be on the list.

In his email inviting ORG to attend, Lord Triesman, the minister for intellectual property, assured us that he is “eager that all interests should make the fullest use of the consultation.” His speech to the Social Market Foundation last month [pdf] predicted much debate around Gowers’ recommended format-shifting exception:

“[This] recommendation raises an interesting point: there are some people who believe that such a change to the law will provide the consumer with a ‘right’ to copy a DVD for example – but that is not the case. Any change in the law will merely provide an exception from infringement for certain limited acts, and will not override any terms and conditions which the consumer agrees to when he or she buys a DVD in the first place.”

Meanwhile, the UK IPO has been quietly implementing Gowers Review recommendation numbers 46 and 47. Thanks to the IPKat for bringing ORG’s attention to the fact that we had missed the deadline for putting forward a suitably open candidate to the new Strategic Advisory Board on Intellectual Property, a panel that will advise Government on IP issues. Since ORG is subscribed to a large number of UK IPO message lists, we were surprised not to be informed that recruitment was underway. So we’ve asked the UK IPO to consider a late application for SABIP from the Open Rights Group.