skip to content

Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law

 
Thursday, 16 October 2008

In December 2006 the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge published a Review of the Economic Evidence Relating to an Extension of the Term of Copyright in Sound Recordings reviewing the evidence relating to a term extension for sound recordings. The report was itself commissioned by the Gowers Review on Intellectual Property which was set up in December 2005 by the Chancellor of Exchequer to conduct "an independent review into the UK Intellectual Property Framework".

Among other matters, the Gowers Review gave detailed consideration to the question of whether a term extension for sound recordings was merited, and it was this which motivated their commissioning of the CIPIL report. Based on the report, and the other evidence available, the Gowers Review recommended strongly against any term extension.

Several months ago, due to the comments of music industry representatives in public fora, members of CIPIL became aware that a critique of their work had been circulating. It appeared this critique had been commissioned from the LECG consultancy by the BPI (British Phonographic Industry). Unfortunately the BPI have refused to make the LECG report publicly available. However, we have been given a copy from another source and it is on this that the response is based. The response can be read here

News