SCONUL influences UK's Digital Economy Bill

8 February, 2010

SCONUL welcomes the Digital Economy Bill in principle.

Specially welcome is the 'orphan works' proposal, which will unlock thousands of works in our libraries. Orphan works are still in copyright, but their copyright owners cannot be traced. Our member libraries hold and conserve large numbers of such works, without the ability to use them widely, for example by digitising them. This is because the necessary permission from their copyright owner is impossible to obtain. The Bill's proposals will allow our member libraries to obtain a licence to digitise orphan works. The permission will come either from a collecting society representing known right-holders, or by special arrangement with the Secretary of State. In all cases a careful search would be made for the missing right-holder.

But the Bill's proposals for tackling on-line copyright infringement are something of a threat to us. Our members believe they already have sound methods in place to minimise the problem, and that right-holders respect this. The Bill's provisions do not fit with the very high bandwidth used in the networks of higher education institutions, for example, and rely too much on administrative and technical solutions. In our experience, early direct communication with individuals is highly effective. We believe the government is coming some way to meet our concerns but we remain watchful as the Bill progresses.

See

article in THE http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=410184

letter in The Times about the Bill and orphan works http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article7012499.ece

letter in The Guardian about the Bill and on-line infringement measures http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/05/digital-economy-bill