Data Analytics – A Policy Perspective

Benjamin White, Head of Intellectual Property

British Library

2010

Independent Review of Intellectual Property and Growth

Final Report May 2011

Digital Opportunity

Recommendations accepted by Government in July 2011

Introduce a limitation and exception at UK level.At EU level work towards one for commercial use

also.

Is this a harmonised act under the EU Copyright Directive?

uses of a work enabled by technology which do not directly trade on the underlying creative and expressive purpose of the work (this has been referred to as “non-consumptive” use5). The idea is to encompass the

uses of copyright works where copying is really only carried out as part of the way the technology works. For instance, in data mining or search

engine indexing, copies need to be created for the computer to be able to analyse; the technology provides a substitute for someone reading all the documents. This is not about overriding the aim of copyright – these uses

do not compete with the normal exploitation of the work itself – indeed, they may facilitate it. Nor is copyright intended to restrict use of facts. That these new uses happen to fall within the scope of copyright regulation is essentially a side effect of how copyright has been defined, rather than

being directly relevant to what copyright is supposed to protect.

What could an exception look like?

Fair dealing with a work for the purposes of data analytics is not an infringement of copyright or database rights when extracting and reusing the expression of facts and figures held within a copyright

work. Any making of entire copies of work, or copies substitutable for the original work necessary for the process of data analytics does not infringe any copyright or database rights in the work provided that it is not made available to the public or used for

any other purpose.

The extraction of facts and information from all works subject to copyright and related rights that the user has lawful access to is not an infringement. (S. 29 – Fair Dealing for Research and Private Study)

The making of copies specifically for the process of data analytics is not an infringement provided that the computer generated copy created for the purposes of data analytics is not communicated to the public. (S. 29 – Fair Dealing for Research and Private Study)

This, and any other exception cannot be overridden by contract law. (Chapter III – Acts Permitted in relation to Copyright Works)

But …

1. Launched by David Cameron personally.

2. Early on in the life of a new government.

3. A stiff timetable of implementation to avoid slippage.

4. Genuine interest from No 10 in UK tech SMEs – “the silicon roundabout effect”.

5. Data analytics and international competitiveness.

QUIZ TIME

What do Norway, Japan and the US of A have in common?

USA and Fair Use § 107

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the

factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a

commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

2. the nature of the copyrighted work;

3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the

copyrighted work as a whole; and

4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted

work.

ben.white@bl.uk