The Intellectual Property office has announced a consultation regarding the future of copyright legislation in the UK. This is bound to be vitally important for photographers since it will shape Government policy and changes to the law, particularly forthcoming EU Orphan Works legislation.

The consultation period is short, running only until February, which leaves little time for representative organisations to form a coherent response.

The IPO announcement:-

© The future: Keeping ahead of the game
David Lammy, Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, has launched a wide-ranging consultation by the Intellectual Property Office on the future direction of copyright. The aim is to ensure that the copyright system properly supports creativity, promotes investment and jobs while also inspiring the confidence of businesses and of users (as being fair and reasonable). In building a long term vision and supporting our creative industries, we need to think beyond our national borders and consider the global future of copyright.

The IPO shows every sign of repeating the mistakes of the Gowers Review, in failing to differentiate between creators as rights holders and large publishers and aggregators of creators' rights. As with Gowers, Government appears fixated on the notion that its job is to  balance the interests of industry with those of the public who consume and use cultural works. This ignores piggy-in-the-middle creators, who as individuals find their work almost impossible to defend from either predatory publishers who dictate terms, or the light-fingered public who think everything is free.

The point has been made many times, and was made to Gowers by a number of photographic bodies' submissions. Nothing could be more important for photographers than to ensure this point of view is recognised by Lammy; we are after all the people who actually create the work.

Download the consultation document [PDF] from here.