British Library IP Manfesto

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Of possible interest for readers of this list.
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http://www.bl.uk/news/2006/pressrelease20060925.html

British Library launches IP manifesto

"The current stand-off on IP threatens innovation, research and 
our digital heritage, "Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive, British 
Library

Labour Party Conference, Monday September 25, 2006

The British Library will launch its Manifesto on the contentious 
issue of Intellectual Property (IP) reform at a fringe event at 
the Labour Party Conference today.

The fringe event - entitled 'IP: FEE OR FREE? PUBLIC ACCESS 
VERSUS COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE', and featuring 
representatives from industry heavyweights Microsoft UK, Google, 
the National Consumer Council, the British Phonographic Industry 
and the Open Rights Group, will explore the problems and 
paradoxes of IP rights in the digital age.

In recent years debate on IP reform has become increasingly 
polarised as digital communications transform the way that 
information is shared, stored and copied. Existing legislation 
urgently needs to be updated, though the manner in which this is 
achieved has the potential to nurture or curtail the development 
of new kinds of creativity and new models of public and private 
sector value.

"Our IP Manifesto sets out the unique role that the UK national 
library must play as both a leading voice and an honest broker in 
the debate that the digital revolution has generated," said Lynne 
Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library. "As a publisher 
in its own right, the Library understands the opportunities and 
threats presented by digital to the publishing industries. As one 
of the world's great research libraries, we are equally mindful 
of the threat that an overly restrictive, insufficiently clear, 
IP framework would pose to future creativity and innovation."

"For example: currently the law does not permit copying of sound 
or film items for preservation," she explained. "Without the 
right for libraries and archives to make copies, the UK risks 
losing a large part of its recorded culture."

To read the IP Manifesto in full, go to: 
www.bl.uk/news/pdf/ipmanifesto.pdf (PDF format) 43KB

The IP Manifesto's key recommendations include:

* Existing limitations and exceptions to copyright law should be extended
   to encompass unambiguously the digital environment;
* Licenses providing access to digital material should not
   undermine longstanding limitations and exceptions such as fair
   dealing
* The right to copy material for preservation purposes. a core
   duty of all national libraries, should be extended to all
   copyrightable works
* The copyright term for sound recordings should not be extended
   without empirical evidence of the benefits and due
   consideration of the needs of society as a whole
* The US model for dealing with 'orphan works' should be
   considered for the UK
* The length of copyright term for unpublished works should be brought
   into line with other terms (ie: life plus 70 years).

"The World Intellectual Property Organisation, the body that 
frames intellectual property law internationally, is clear that 
limitations and exceptions such as fair dealing and library 
privilege are as relevant to the digital environment as they are 
to the its analogue equivalent," Lynne Brindley added. "However, 
out of thirty licensing agreements recently offered to the 
Library for use of digital material, twenty-eight were found to 
be more restrictive than the rights existing under current 
copyright law."

She concluded: "Our concern is that, if unchecked, this trend 
will drastically reduce public access, thus significantly 
undermining the strength and vitality of our creative and 
educational sectors - with predictable consequences for UK plc.

For further information and images please contact: Ben Sanderson at the
British Library Press Office (telephone +44 (0)1937 546126, email:
ben.sanderson@bl.uk) or Lawrence Christensen (telephone +44 (0)20 7412

Notes to Editors:

The British Library - is the national library of the United Kingdom. It
provides world class information services to the academic, business,
research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the
world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further
information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk, which

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