WIPO Director General addresses future of copyright

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry reveiled his view on the future of copyright, speaking at a conference hosted by the Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. On the future of copyright, Mr. Gurry said there is no “single magical answer” to the development of a successful policy response to the challenges facing copyright in the digital age, but a combination of “law, infrastructure, cultural change, institutional collaboration and better business models” will lead to an agreeable solution for all parties concerned. WIPO is the United Nations agency for intellectual property policy. 

Mr. Gurry said the central question facing the evolution of copyright policy is how to maintain a balance between availability of cultural works at affordable prices while assuring a dignified economic existence for creators and performers. Digital technology is having a radical impact on those balances. “Rather than resist it, we need to accept the inevitability of technological change and to seek an intelligent engagement with it,” he said.

The head of WIPO identified three main principles that should guide the development of a successful policy response. The first is “neutrality to technology and to the business models developed in response to technology.” He said the purpose of copyright is to promote cultural dynamism, not preserving or promoting vested business interests.”

A second principle is “comprehensiveness and coherence in the policy response.” Mr. Gurry recognized the limitation of law to provide a comprehensive answer and said that “infrastructure is as important a part of the solution as law.” According to Mr. Gerry, we need a global infrastructure that permits global licensing, in a way that makes licensed cultural works on the Internet as accessible as it is to obtain illegal content nowadays.

The third guiding principle for a successful response to the digital challenge is the need more simplicity in copyright. Mr. Gurry said “Copyright is complicated and complex, We risk losing our audience and public support if we cannot make understanding of the system more accessible.”

The culture of the Internet also needs to be taken into consideration. Referring to the high rates of illegal downloading, Mr. Gurry emphasized: In order to effect a change in attitude, we should stop calling people pirates, but make them aware of the threat to the financial viability of culture in the 21st century, because that is essentially at risk if we do not have an effective, properly balanced copyright policy. Read the full tekst of mr. Gurry’s very interesting speech here.

Sources: World Intellectual Property Organisation – WIPO, Queensland University of Technology - QUT