[Advocacy Advisors] Fwd: Updates from the Intellectual Property Office

Tue Sep 2 11:19:33 UTC 2014

Hello everyone,

I was fortunate enough to meet with the UK's Intellectual Property Office
before I went on leave. Ros Lynch, their Head of Copyright, was quite
sympathetic to our movement and mission and I believe we have the basis of
a good working relationship in place now. She also arranged for a colleague
to pass on some information on the latest activities of the IPO, which is
below. The information about the Orphan Works Licensing Scheme may be of
particular interest.

Thanks and regards,

Stevie

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Margaret Haig
Date: 28 August 2014 11:06
Subject: Updates from the Intellectual Property Office
To: "stevie.benton at wikimedia.org.uk" <stevie.benton at wikimedia.org.uk>

Dear Stevie,

I understand that you met with Ros Lynch last week and she said we would
send over some information on various topics.  I am responding on her
behalf.

*Copyright Notices*

The Copyright Notice service allows anyone to ask the IPO to provide basic
guidance on an area of copyright law where there is particular confusion or
misunderstanding.  The service does not deal with specific disputes and is
not intended to be a substitute for legal advice altogether, although the
hope is that small businesses and individuals may be able to avoid
obtaining expensive legal advice for some more straightforward matters.  We
also try to avoid areas where there is already a lot of guidance available
(online or otherwise), so that a Notice meets a real need.  The online
request form is at
http://www.ipo.gov.uk/pro-types/pro-copy/c-notice/c-notice-submit.htm.

The first Notice was published this year on digital images, photographs and
the internet <http://www.ipo.gov.uk/c-notice-201401.pdf>.  We are currently
working on Notices on assigning copyright, amateur music performance and
knitting patterns; these are all based on subject areas where a Notice has
been requested.  We can notify you when the Notices are published if you
would like.

*UK Orphan Works Licensing Scheme*

Orphan works are those copyright works where the right holder is unknown or
cannot be found. At present, this means that the work cannot be licensed
for use.  The licensing scheme for orphan works will have effect in the UK
only, which allows for commercial and non-commercial use of any orphan
work.  This will create new cultural and commercial opportunities, as well
as helping to reunite copyright owners with their work and with appropriate
remuneration.  It will be operated by an authorising body (the Intellectual
Property Office).  Those who wish to use orphan works will apply, specify
the type of use, pay an administrative fee, and conduct a diligent search
for the orphan right holder.  The authorising body will check whether the
search is sufficiently diligent, and if appropriate issue a licence for up
to seven years, on payment of a licence fee.  A licence may be renewed if a
refreshed diligent search is completed.

The licence fee will be kept for the right holder for eight years.  At the
end of this period, the Government will use the unclaimed fees to defray
set-up and running costs of the authorising body.  Any surplus may be used
for social, cultural and education activities, or otherwise at the
discretion of the Secretary of State.  The authorising body may also agree
to pay the licence fee to a returning right holder after eight years in
exceptional circumstances.

There is more information about orphan works in our consultation document
and response, available at
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/copyright-uk-orphan-works-licensing-scheme.
This page also has the individual responses to the consultation, which may
or may not be of interest to you.  The regulations were laid in Parliament
in July and we expect the debates to be in October.

*Copyright Exceptions*

I believe you also wanted the link to the guidance which has been published
on the new copyright exceptions:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-copyright-law.

If you have queries on any of these topics, please feel free to email me.
My work areas include Copyright Notices and Orphan Works, but I can easily
put you in touch with someone on Exceptions if required.

Kind regards,

Margaret
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