By: Luke
Gowers Review of Intellectual Property - call for evidence
The Gowers Review of Intellectual Property today issued a call for evidence as part of its commitment to consult widely.
The call for evidence consists of a letter from Andrew Gowers, with an accompanying paper that provides details of the scope of the Review and sets out a number of general and specific issues on which the Review would particularly like to gather evidence. It also invites respondents to highlight other issues for consideration.
Responses to the call for evidence have been requested by Friday 21 April 2006.
For more information and to download the issues paper and covering letter in PDF format please visit the Review’s website at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/gowers
On 2 December 2005, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that he was asking Andrew Gowers, former Editor of the Financial Times, to lead an independent review into intellectual property rights in the UK. The Review will report to the Chancellor, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Autumn 2006.
Intellectual Property is a critical component of our present and future success in the global economy. Our economic competitiveness is increasingly driven by knowledge-based industries, especially in manufacturing, science-based sectors and the creative industries. The IP framework must balance the need to encourage firms and individuals to innovate and invest in new ideas and creative works with the need to ensure that markets remain competitive and that future innovation is not impeded.
While it has been suggested that the present UK system strikes broadly the right balance between consumers and rights-holders, it also appears that there are a variety of practical issues with the existing framework. The Review will look at both the instruments (patents, copyright, designs etc.) that are provided by government to protect creative endeavour, and also at the operations: how IP is awarded, how it is licensed in the market, and how it is enforced. The Review will examine whether improvements could be made and, as appropriate, make targeted and practical policy recommendations.
The Gowers Review website http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/gowers provides further information about the Review, including the call for evidence documents.
Mar 17th 2006
If you�d like to take part in the Gowers Review of intellectual property in the UK, then the easiest way to do so is to leave a comment on the new Open Rights Group Gowers Review blog, where they have sliced the Call for Evidence into bite-sized chunks, each of which you can comment on. Ideally, they would like to hear your first-hand experiences of dealing with intellectual property, whether that�s copyright, patents, orphaned works, or any other aspect. If you have a story to tell about IP, this is your opportunity.
You�ll also notice that there are two extra fields in the comment form, asking for your company and job title. These are both optional, but if you can speak on a professional footing, then that helps to provide important context for the Review submission.