LIBRARIANS AND POETS

British Library IP manifesto - archives in danger

Monsters and Critics reports that the British Library has issued a statement expressing its concern about its inability to transfer its sound archive on to more modern media. The statement points out:

"Currently the law does not permit copying of sound and film items for preservation… Without the right to make copies, the UK is losing a large part of its recorded culture… Many original audio and film formats we hold are becoming increasingly more fragile".

The statement continued by adding that such formats could 'face irretrievable decay.'

The IPKat says that this situation is particularly unfortunate because the authors have absolutely nothing to lose and have everything to gain from the BL preserving their work for posterity.

The statement appears to be part of a wider IP Manifesto launched by the BL on Monday, which calls for the following:

*Existing limitations and exceptions to copyright law should be extended to encompass unambiguously the digital environment;
*Licences providing access to digital material should not undermine longstanding limitations and exceptions such as ‘fair dealing';
*The right to copy material for preservation purposes – a core duty of all national libraries – should be extended to all copyrightable works;
*The copyright term for sound recordings should not be extended without empirical evidence of the benefits and due consideration of the needs of society as a whole;
*The US model for dealing with ‘orphan works'** should be considered for the UK;
*The length of copyright term for unpublished works should be brought into line with other terms (ie: life plus 70 years).

Artists embrace posterity here


IP in verse!

Larry Lessig doffs his imaginary hat in the direction of Yehuda Berliner, who has rendered the copyright, patent and trade mark laws of the US into verse.

The IPKat awaits the TRIPs Agreement in iambic pentameter.