November was a month of grand pronouncements on copyright, with both the EU Digital Commissioner and the British Prime Minister calling for major copyright reform, and the founder of the Creative Commons movement addressing a WIPO conference on a similar theme.

In a speech urging members of the European Union to look beyond “nationalist and corporate self interest”, the EU Digital Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said: “Copyright exists to ensure that artists will continue to create. Yet we see more and more often that it is not respected. In some sectors, the levels of piracy demand that we ask ourselves what we are doing wrong. We must ensure that copyright serves as a building block, not a stumbling block.”

A case in point, Kroes said, was Europeana, the digital portal of libraries, museums and archives in Europe: “Will this 12 million-strong collection of books, pictures, maps, music pieces and videos stall because copyright gets in the way? I hope not. But when it comes to 20th Century materials, even to digitise and publish orphan works and out-of-distribution works, we have a large problem indeed. Europeana could be condemned to be a niche player rather than a world leader if it cannot be granted licenses and share the full catalogue of written and audiovisual material held in our cultural institutions. And it will be frustrated in that ambition if it cannot team up with commercial partners on terms that are consistent with public policy and with the interests of rightsholders.”

Kroes said the European Commission would soon make legislative proposals on orphan works, and on the transparency and governance of the collective management societies, and would also examine the divergent national copying levies that exist in Europe and look into multi-territorial and pan-European copyright. “We need this debate because we need action to promote a legal digital Single Market in Europe.”

Also in early November, the British PM, David Cameron, announced a review of the country’s intellectual property law – focusing on copyright – with review recommendations due in April 2011. He pointed to the ‘fair use’ copyright provisions in the United States as a possible model for reform, saying: “Over there, they have what are called ‘fair use’ provisions, which some people believe gives companies more breathing space to create new products and services.”

Some Internet groups welcomed the review, saying it would provide an opportunity to redress the balance between copyright owner and user interests set by the Digital Economy Act of 2010 (which underpins the introduction of a system of ‘graduated response’ by ISPs, to prevent online copyright infringement). Other commentators accused the Government of being too much in the thrall of major IT corporations such as Google and Facebook.

In Geneva, high profile copyright reform campaigner and founder of the Creative Commons movement, Professor Lawrence Lessig, addressed a World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) conference on emerging modalities for licensing of digital content. Lessig reportedly divided licensing into two ‘ecologies’, one for professionals and one for amateur [1]. Professionals were those seeking remuneration from the exploitation of their works, while amateurs were those freely distributing their works, including some scientists and academics; licensing should distinctly address each of these ecologies.

[1] http://www.copyrightlaws.com/international/wipo-meetings-francis-gurry-and-lawrence-lessig/