UK follow-up to Hargreaves Report recognises efforts of creative industry to streamline for the digital age

The final report of the Digital Copyright Exchange Feasibility Study (Hooper Report), following the Hargreaves Report has just been published by the UK Intellectual Property Office.

The study comes up with an optimistic conclusion on the fitness for purpose and crucially on the willingness of the creative industry to adapt to the digital challenges but also notes that there is no room for complacency. It notes that “in response to concerns expressed in the Hargreaves Review, the creative industries have responded proactively and are busy streamlining copyright licensing for the digital age…..As a result, on the economic and cultural dimension, innovation and growth across the UK s creative industries and the UK s cultural institutions will be further stimulated.”

IFRRO notes this report and is pleased by the recognition given to the ongoing work in the copyright community to address some of the concerns raised - in particular the ARROW project, which has been shown to reduce the cost of searching for rightholders by up to 95% and the contribution of the standards projects sponsored and/or sustained by IFRRO such as the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) and PLUS. To these could be added the ONIX for RROs suite of standards which streamline the information flow between RROs in the crucial areas of Repertoire and Distribution exchange and the International Standard Text Code (ISTC) for the unique identification of text based works.

IFRRO and its members will continue to work to facilitate easy legal access to copyright works. It has been demonstrated that direct licensing combined with collective rights management by RROs offers the safest, simplest, fastest, most innovative, most convenient and most cost efficient way to seamless access to copyright works (including high quality teaching material) from multiple rightholders. It works in developed as well as developing countries. What’s more, flourishing local cultural industries and a healthy educational system with broad access to local resources contributes significantly to the nation’s economy and employment. Collective administration of rights through RROs is about making copyright work and IFRRO is happy to contribute to the continued search for solutions.

The report can be found here.