HM Government provides £150,000 to fund the Copyright Hub project

As Iona promptly reported on The 1709 Blog, yesterday UK IP Minister Lord Younger announced that HM Government has provided a £150,000 funding to create a one-stop shop website designed to make it easier for consumers to get information about rights ownership and copyright licences.

Does this ring a bell? Of course it does, says Merpel, as all this has to do with that mysterious (at least, to many) creature known as the Copyright Hub.

IPKat readers will in fact remember that in his 2011 Review of IP and Growth Professor Ian Hargreaves recommended that the UK should establish an industry-led solution to improve copyright licensing. At that time, he estimated that it could add up to £2.2 billion a year to the UK economy by 2020, with a particular benefit to the creative industries. What Hargreaves had in mind was further elaborated the following year by Richard Hooper and Ros Lynch in their independent report.

Merpel has often thought that mermaids
were creatures less mysterious than the Copyright Hub

As clarified in the press release which accompanied yesterday's announcement, the Hub (which will be designed and built by industry) will act as a source of information about rights ownership to support open and competitive markets for copyright licences. This will cut costs for businesses by creating a more efficient online market place where those looking to use copyright works in new creations or services. So, for example a company providing a multimedia service for a wedding, will have access to a greater range of licensing options, through the Hub, in a straightforward online transaction.

As explained by Lord Younger,

“Databases of copyright works such as those held by collecting societies and publishers, and designs such as the Register of Designs at the IPO already exist. However, government has listened to concerns that consumers are unsure who they should go to if they are looking for information about obtaining a licence, particularly if multiple rights are involved.

The funding announced today will help industry to start building the Hub website sooner and engage with schools and Further Education colleges to help streamline educational licensing. Above all, it chimes with government's aim to provide a further portal to assist businesses to grow faster and to boost our creative industries.”

According to enthusiastic Richard Hooper, Director of Copyright Hub Ltd, “The Copyright Hub until today has been just an idea. Today it begins to become an exciting reality."

Very well, says Merpel -- but what do readers think?