28 June 2002
Copyright: Patent Office and CLA initiate full consultation with librarians
Copyright: Patent Office and CLA initiate full consultation with librarians
• Fair dealing must cease for copying for research with a commercial purpose on 22 December 2002.
• Responsibility for deciding what constitutes a commercial purpose rests with the European Court of Justice.
• The Copyright Licensing Agency is initiating a consultation with information managers and librarians on their licensing needs.
• A fuller report will appear on the Managing Information web site on Monday 1 July (www.managinginformation.com), and will be the subject of a further electronic newslater (available free on request to the webmaster: robeel.haq@aslib.com).
A packed meeting at the Patent Office on the evening of 27 June heard further details on the UK implementation of EU Directive 29 of 2001 (on the harmonisation of copyright law) heard clarification of a number of important points. Delegates seized the opportunity to raise questions relating to their own concerns about compliance with the forthcoming changes in law. The meeting was jointly organised by AEBIG (The Aslib Economic and Business Information Group), and ICLG (the CILIP Industrial and Commercial Libraries Group).
Anthony Murphy, Director of Copyright at the Patent Office, gave a witty and entertaining speech on why the Directive (EU Directive on Copyright in the Information Society), is being introduced. The presentation was illustrated with some interesting facts and figures, reinforcing his message that the internet has dramatically increased the opportunities for copyright law to be broken. This was, he said, a primary reason for drawing up the Directive.
He made the important point that the Directive is being implemented through secondary legislation, which means that ‘we cannot exceed the boundaries of the Directive itself.’ This means that they cannot override the requirements of the EU.
Anthony Murphy rounded off his talk by quoting Mark Twain- “Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet,” (much laughter from the audience).
Judith Sullivan, also of the Patent Office, then took centre stage, immediately qualifying what she would say with the caution: “everything I say is provisional – it is not absolutely certain we will do it this way, and we will be consulting.”
Judith explained that section 29 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (CPDA88s29 - fair dealing for research and private study), permits copying on behalf of those needing material for research and private study. Sections 38 and 39 covers copying by librarians on behalf of those needing material for research or private study, with a signed declaration by the person requiring the copies providing the librarian with indemnity. These provisions should be maintained under the Directive.
Judith says that they intend to retain exceptions where they can, and that this will be done by matching current exceptions to Article 5 of the Directive. However, where this is not possible, they will have to act. The current thinking is that this means that CPDA88s29 will need to be amended to exclude research which is for a commercial purpose. Sections 38 and 39 will need to be similarly amended to maintain parity, as it would be against the principles of CPDA88 not to amend all 3 sections in the same way.
Ms Sullivan emphasised the important point that it is the person requiring the copies who must decide whether or not the research is for a non-commercial purpose, and that the signed declaration will remain as the librarian’s indemnity, just as now. If on the other hand a librarian advises on whether a commercial purpose applies or not, they could be held responsible for a false declaration.
The final main point of Judith’s presentation emphasised that the final decision as to what counts as non-commercial will rest with the European Courts of Justice, not the Patent Office, or indeed the UK courts.
Ms Sullivan then expressed the view that licensing can provide solutions, and the hope that cooperation between organisations representing information managers and licensing agencies provides solutions that work for all.
Charles Oppenheim took the floor to give an interpretation of events from his position of considerable expertise and experience, and his contribution was warmly welcomed and deeply appreciated by the audience. His key point was that senior managers in organisations will have to accept that they must allocate more money for copyright clearance where any copying will be for a commercial purpose. He emphasised that it was the activity of the individual (ie whether they anticipated that they would make money out of the research they were carrying out) rather than the nature of the organisation which would be the deciding factor as to whether fair dealing applied or not.
Peter Shepherd, Chief Executive of the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) then took the presentation baton, opening with the statement that information managers and librarians matter to the CLA. He said that librarians respect and understand copyright, are copyright compliant, and that it is the CLA’s mission to protect rights by enabling access.
He also said that the CLA fully understands the concerns that librarians may have.
Peter set out the way forward as collective licensing to protect rights and provide clearance.
He announced that the CLA is establishing a joint consultations process, so that librarians can communicate their needs to the CLA which will then initiate the development of new licenses.
Peter emphasised that this process must begin soon.
A fuller report on the AEBIG/ICLG copyright meeting at the Patent office will be posted on the Managing Information site on Monday afternoon (1 July). It will be the subject of another special email newsletter on Tuesday morning, 2 July (we are going to provide separate newsletters on EU Directive from time to time so that they can be used as a quick reference by readers).
• The CLA is inviting comment from librarians and information managers, see www.cla.com for further details.
• You can also send your concerns to me (graham.coult@aslib.com), and I will compile a digest of concerns for the CLA while maintaining your anonymity.
• If you are an information manager working for a learned society, please get in touch with me, as a meeting is being organised by certain learned societies to discuss their licensing requirements.
Graham Coult, Editor, Managing Information: graham.coult@aslib.com
CLICK HERE FOR THE MANAGING INFORMATION COPYRIGHT COURIER
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