From The future of intellectual property: Andrew Gowers interviewed on openDemocracy.net:
The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property has been broadly welcomed by copyright campaigners. Lawrence Lessig, the godfather of Creative Commons, has labelled research conducted into the economics of copyright extension “fantastic”, urging all governments to “muster the courage to follow this advice”; the Open Rights Group has said they are “delighted” by his evidence-based approach. In total, the report makes over fifty recommendations, some which can be implemented by the government immediately, and others that speak to reform in the European Union and even the World Trade Organisation.
“It’s not radical in the sense that it does not throw into question the fundaments of the IP system”, explains Gowers. “But it is kind of radical in the sense that it doesn’t take anything for granted. My view is that for far too long intellectual property has been a priesthood on the one hand and a lobbyists’ playground on the other. A priesthood in the sense that it is enacted by these quite funny men of a certain age in legal chambers, dusty files all around them and so forth. And a lobbyists’ playground in the sense that the people who are IP holders, the people who say more IP protection is good are well-organised and well-focussed, articulate and well-financed. And the people who actually pay for it, in terms of consumers, are diffuse. So up until now it’s been a one way argument.”
OUT-LAW.com finds the Review:
predictable in its recommendations. The Review was a rare opportunity to look at whether our IP laws currently strike the right balance between fostering creativity for the general good and giving businesses opportunities to make money, but on the whole it only recommends tweaks to our current approach to fill obvious gaps, facilitate enforcement and remove inconsistencies. Although welcome, these proposals are limited.
As to copyright in sound recordings, Gowers recommends maintaining the status quo – it’s still OK that this Sir Cliff recording (“frankly I am appalled to find that there are no plans at present to extend the term of copyright applicable to sound recordings in Europe”) should soon be freed from its shackles.
