Judeumeh's Blog

In keeping with the festive season, this may be the perfect present for content industry stakeholders, and perhaps a sign that even this period of economic woes may also hold the seeds of future prosperity for the content industry. But only if we get it right this time.

The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO), led by Minister David Lammy, have launched this consultation to help ensure that the UK copyright system is up to the job of supporting creativity, attracting investment and retaining the confidence of users and businesses in the challenging environments of today and tomorrow (read more at DRMWatch). Perhaps equally significant, is the stated aim of this consultation to address the increasingly global nature of copyright going forward, and this, to my mind, presents a prime opportunity for leadership in creating a more relevant Intellectual Property system for a digitally connected world. The initial consultation is planned to run until February 2009, and to conclude sometime in the summer; so definitely something to watch out for, and perhaps get involved of you can.

PS. The UK is not alone in doing this exercise, because, according to a MediaFuturist blog post, other developed countries, like Japan, are also in the throes of similar debates about copyright and their role in a super-connected world. It will be most interesting to see what they all come up with.

Other positive developments, in other areas, include the recent news about a rethink by the Recording Industry of Association of America (RIAA) on their policy of suing individual file sharers. Instead, they have decided to work with ISPs to monitor and deal with illegal file sharers using an approach similar to the 3 strikes model (more coverage here). Who says there is no good news anymore?

So here is wishing you all a peaceful holiday / festive season, and a reasonably prosperous New Year (all things considered). Adios for now!

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Note: This post was previously published on my BCS DRM Blog, where you can find the original post, and reader comments, in the archives.