Peter Groves and Lisa Percival of Bircham Dyson Bell have alerted the IPKat that the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, Gordon Brown, has announced today the establishment of an Independent Review to examine the UK’s intellectual property framework. The Review, announced as part of the Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Report package, will be headed by Andrew Gowers, a former editor of the Financial Times and will run for 12 months. Its website can be found here.
The Government believes that the current IP system is fundamentally sound, striking the right balance between the interests of IPR owners and users, and so the Review will be examining what improvements can be made, and will make suggestions for targeted and practical policy recommendations.
In particular the Review will examine
* the way in which Government administers the awarding of IP and their support to consumers and business;Also, the Government’s prior commitment to examining the duration of performers’ rights will be carried out as part of the Review.
* how well businesses are able to negotiate the complexity and expense of the copyright and patent system, including copyright and patent licensing arrangements, litigation and enforcement; and
* whether the current technical and legal IP infringement framework reflects the digital environment, and whether provisions for ‘fair use’ by citizens are reasonable.
Andrew Gowers
Merpel says how exciting. The IPKat agrees but urges those who work in or with intellectual property to get involved. He hopes that the Review will be an even-handed process, and that the views of those who (i) are for stronger protection; (ii) would like to maintain the status quo and (iii) favour a loosening of protection will all be heard. The IPKat says, if you have any thoughts on the subject, please don’t hesitate to leave them as comments below. If you want, you can opt to leave them anonymously by checking the anonymous box.