Digital Copyright Exchange feasibility study
Terms of Reference
Aim
The Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE) feasibility study will consider options for developing a functional digital market in rights clearance and a source of information about rights ownership, as recommended by the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth and accepted by the Government.
The feasibility study will examine available evidence and bring together industry partners and sectors of the creative world to create a framework for a distributed rights exchange and the necessary supporting systems to allow a functioning licensing system.
Context
The Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth recommended that:
"In order to boost UK firms’ access to transparent, contestable and global digital markets, the UK should establish a cross sectoral Digital Copyright Exchange... A range of incentives and disincentives will be needed to encourage rights holders and others to take part. Governance should reflect the interests of participants, working to an agreed code of practice."
In its Response the Government has stated that it wants to see a DCE, or something like it, to speed up copyright licensing and thus enable new business opportunities.
Scope
The study will address the issues that Hargreaves identified and consider the feasibility of setting up a DCE or something like it. The work will be conducted in two phases:
- Diagnosis: convening/ discussing with industry partners to explore the issues affecting rights licensing and to create a clear understanding of the problems
- Options: bringing forward appropriate industry-led solutions with a view to how these could be put into practice
The study will not focus on other copyright recommendations set out in the Government Response, except where these directly impact on DCE.