The Hargreaves Report on IP in Britain

The UK government commissioned a review of intellectual property policy back in November of last year. The report [PDF] of commission chair Professor Ian Hargreaves was released today, making:

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10 recommendations designed to ensure that the UK has an IP framework best suited to supporting innovation and promoting economic growth in the digital age.

A significant thrust and recommendation of the Hargreaves Report is that policy must be made on the basis of actual evidence, principally economic evidence, rather than the urgings of lobbyists as has been too often the case. The Commission considered adopting the American “Fair Use defence” and concluded that it would be better to focus on EU exceptions that already exist but that are unused in the UK (private copying, parody, archiving) and argue for a further exception to accommodate “future technological change.”

Other recommendations are:

1. The UK should be more active in pursuing its international interests in IP and “work to make the Patent Cooperation Treaty a more effective vehicle”
2. “the UK should establish a cross sectoral Digital Copyright Exchange” to facilitate cross-border licensing
3. “The Government should legislate to enable licensing of orphan works.”
4. The government should place limits on copyright and “should firmly resist over-regulation of activities which do not prejudice the central objective of copyright, namely the provision of incentives to creators.”
5. The government should take certain specific steps to limit the effects of “patent thickets and other obstructions to innovation.”
6. The IPO should end the neglect of the role of the design industry in the creative economy.
7. The government should take a measured approach to the enforcement of IP rights, measuring its effects and comparing data with those from other countries.
8. The IPO should facilitate small firm access to IP advice.
9. The IPO should be empowered to ensure it focuses on the “central task” of promoting UK innovation and economic growth.

One of the advisors to the Commission, Duke law prof, James Boyle, has written a brief statement about the review that makes for an easy overview of the report:

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for anyone who cares about fostering innovation while protecting creators? The Hargreaves Review is worth a read. In the short run, the fact that it actually “names” the dysfunctions of our current policy process will cause high blood pressure for some. But in the long run, I think the streamlined, low transaction cost, evidence-based intellectual property system it suggests – a world with fewer patent thickets, fewer orphan works, fewer examples of copyright breaking instead of making markets – will actually be seen as profoundly positive not only for society, but for digital businesses themselves.