The National Consumer Council welcomes the opportunity to give evidence to the Culture Media and Sport Committee's inquiry into new media and the creative industries. Digital technology is having a major impact on our lives; it has changed how we find and use consumer information, as a service, and as a product, and it has radically changed distribution models in many sectors. The current copyright regime, which was designed for the analogue world, has proved unfit for the challenges of the digital revolution. There are now major tensions between IP rights holders, particularly music companies, and consumers. New approaches are needed. Our approach to intellectual property is to achieve a balanced regime that recognises both the interests of creators and the interests of consumers. We do not believe that this balance is being achieved. The legitimate interests of consumers have been eroded by the strident articulation (and advancement) of the interests of intellectual property rights holders. Policy makers should redress the imbalance by:·ensuring that the future development of intellectual property law is based on an independent assessment of the cost and benefits to society as a whole;·including a presumption against the extension of intellectual property rights unless a very clear case can be made that it is in the public interest to do so;·reducing periods of copyright protection to fit more closely the time period over which most of the returns on investments are normally made;·incorporating consumer rights in copyright legislation.·Ensuring that criminal sanctions for copyright infringement are restricted to organised crime;·Restricting anti-circumvention protection to DRM systems that respect consumer rights.
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