From THE BOOKSELLER:
http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/c...-brexit-394481
More at the source.
http://www.thebookseller.com/blogs/c...-brexit-394481
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An international publishing industry can only function in those markets and territories that broadly play by the same rules. That means countries adopting aligned copyright systems that not only protect their own citizens, but crucially provide the same recognition to works written by foreign nationals. Fair use versus fair dealing Since 1886, the primary legal means of achieving this has been the Berne Convention, which established the global copyright norms we know today. Unlike the Treaty of Rome which founded the EU, this time the UK did turn up, and that gave us a significant degree of influence in the system that emerged. Overall, the Berne Convention has been a remarkable success. However, as with all international treaties, the negotiations were fraught. Tensions arose particularly between the French-led desire for a model centred around the moral rights of the author and the Anglo-Saxon common law model, which sees copyright as a property right that facilitates a sound and effective marketplace for copyright works. The compromises were too much for some, with the US deciding to remain outside of the Berne framework until as recently as 1988. One of the main reasons the US did so was its desire to protect its system of Fair Use against potential erosion by Berne rules promoting the narrower exception of Fair Dealing. The difference can seem subtle, but its important. Broadly speaking, Fair Use allows copyright works to be used without the prior permission of the rights-holder, so long as that use is in the wider interests of the public at large (factors include whether the use is educational and/or transformative). This was Googles defence in the case brought by the Authors Guild. The doctrine is now increasingly seen by many common law countries (Canada, South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong) as a solution to the demands for a more flexible copyright regime for digital works. Fair Dealing provides for a much more limited and tightly defined set of exceptions. This model adheres more tightly to Berne and is enshrined in the EU Copyright Directive, which contains a closed list of specific exceptions that member states can adopt. When taken alongside the EUs introduction of a special right to protect databases, and other recent policy discussions at EU level about the Digital Single Market (which, thanks to effective lobbying from the UK Publishers Association and the Federation of European Publishers, looks like resulting in a good outcome for publishers), many view the EU as currently being a very a pro-rights-holder environment. New relationships Sitting squarely in the middle is the UK. As an EU member state our common law copyright model has evolved to become closer to Authors Right. But as the lone common law voice in the EU, that journey hasnt been easy. Which regime is better for the UK author and publishing community? Well, for most of us, the instinctive answer is the EU, particularly for academic and educational publishers who would (rightly) be wary of Fair Use models which include broader educational exceptions. But in truth the picture is more complex. For example, many authors supporting Open Access publishing models and creative commons licensing are also ardent supporters of Fair Use. As are many of our customers and technology partners. Whether Brexit brings about change remains to be seen, but three things seem clear. Firstly, an international author and publisher community cannot exist without a broadly aligned international copyright system. Secondly, the international consensus around copyright exceptions is creaking (particularly around educational use), with a key fault line emerging between the EU and the common law countries. Thirdly, and resultantly, as the UK government seeks to realign its economic, legal and commercial relationships with both the EU and common law blocs, there is at the very least a policy choice to be made about what the UKs copyright future should be and how much control we want to take back over shaping it. |