- Email: [email protected]
Major crack-down on illegal copying launched
CLSR
Briefing
CLSR BRIEFING NEWS AND COMMENT ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Compiled
by Stephen
Saxby
United Kingdom Revised Code of Practice on Access to Government Information comes into effect On 1 February 1997 a revised Code of Practice on Access to Government Information came into effect. The Code was originally proposed in the 1993 White Paper on open government (published by HMSO, Cm 2290). After a period of consultation, the Code came into force on 4 April 1994. The latest revision takes account of the experience gained from the operation of the Code since its introduction. The Code includes five main commitments to: supply facts and analysiswith major policy decisions; open up internal guidelineswithout departments dealing with the public; supply reasonswith administrative decisions; provide information under the Citizen’s Charter about public services, what they cost, targets, performance, complaints and redress;and respond to requests for lnformation. The Code extends to almost all central Government departments and their agencies, as well as many other public bodies. Copies of the Code are available on the Internet at http://www.open.gov.uk/m-of-gov/code.htm. For paper copies of the Code, please telephone + 44 (0)345 223242 (Cabinet Office). Editor’s Note: A similar Code of Practice on openness in the National Health Service came into force in June 1995, and in the samemonth the Local
138
Computer scl997,
Law & Security Elsevier Science
Report Ltd.
Authority Associations published a Good Practice Note on Access to Information. This sets out the legal obligations which commit local government to Open Government, and recommends that individual Councils should draw up their own region codes governing their own policies on Access to Information.
UK Parliamentary debates and legislation online The UK Government hastaken the first steps to bring Parliamentary debates and legislation to the Internet. From 23 October 1996, Hansard (House of Commons Debates) has been available for browsing on the Internet. A search engine has also been introduced for key word searching. In addition, the site carries the Order Paper for each Parliamentary day, certain public Bills before Parliament, reports from certain Select Committees and the Weekly Information Bulletin. With effect from the first Public General Act of 1996, all new Public General Acts (and the Data Protection Act 19%) have been and will be published in full text form on the Internet by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Web Pages.All Public General Acts appear asoriginally passedby Parliament. Subsequent amendments are not included, which will of course detract from their value as primary source material. Summariesof a wide range of earlier Acts comprising Long Title, Arrangement of Sections, ISBN, page content and price, are also avallable via these Web pages. The aim is that all new Public General Acts should be published on the Internet within 10 working days of their publication in printed form. In addition, all Statutory Instruments from 1 January 1997 will be published ln full text form as well.
Vol.
13 no. 2 1997
The aim here is to publish within 15 working days of their publication in printed form. All Crown Copyrights have been reserved. Concessions have been granted, however, to enableindividuals to down-load this text flle or print it for their own individual use.Reproduction of the text for the purpose of developing and publishing value-added products is also allowed, without prior permission or charge, provided reproduction is accurate, not malicious and is accompanied by an acknowledgement of Crown Copyright. Any other proposed reproduction requires the consent of the Copyright Unit as Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. More details of the rules governing exploitation of this material is given on the Internet site: http:// www.hmso.gov.uk
Major crack-down copying launched
on illegal
The Copyright Licensing Agency has launched a major campaign designed to encourage the National Health Service, national and local government, and dozens of other public bodies to comply with copyright law. Launching its new ‘Copywatch’ campaign, the CLA’s ‘Get Tough’ approach follows a successful pilot which has exposed thousands of pounds worth of illegal copying by UK business,and resulted in a number of legal actions and substantial fines for the perpetrators. The new campaign will urge business, government and public bodies, to take out CLA licences authorising photocopying, as well as warning them of the dangers of non-compliance. Speaking before the launch at the New British Library, the CLA’s Chief Executive, Cohn Hadley, said:
CLSR
“Illegal copying is the most common crime in the UK today. Eight out of 10 people admit to copying illegally in the workplace. As a consequence, authors and publishers are being deprived of millions of pounds in royalties and lost sales.This cannot be tolerated. Our new ‘Copywatch’ campaign will use all the latest investigative techniques to expose copyright theft in local and national government, schools and colleges, aswell asbusiness.” Just before Christmas, the CLA uncovered two major photocopying scams. In late October, under-cover detectives, acting on CLA’s behalf, investigated the Store Street Press copyshop after CLA received reports of an operation to cheat authors and publishers. CLA’s investigators found huge quantities of photocopying being undertaken by the shop without either a CLA licence or the authorization of the publishers. Remedies have been sought and the copyshop could face substantial costs and damages,or even a criminal prosecution. An out-of-court settlement valued at &50 000 was also agreed with engineering consultancy Dar Al-Handa41, one of the largest such firms in the UK The settlement followed a legal action for copyright infringement resulting directly from a call from a whistle blower to the CLA’s ‘Copywatch’ hotline +44 (0)171 4364242. These successful legal actions are the latest in a list which includes Morgan Stanley,Manchester City Council and Fournier Pharmaceuticals,with settlements in these and other case brought by CLA approaching six figure sums.Commenting, Mr Hadley said: “The risks of cutting corners with copyright law should now be all too clear. The new ‘Copywatch’ campaign demonstrates CLA’s determination vigorously to defend the rights of authors and publishers, and expose copyright theft. I strongly urge all businesses, institutions and public bodies to ensure they are complying with copyright and take out a CLA licence.” The Copyright Licensing Agency can be contacted at 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, WClP OLP, UK; tel: + 44 (0)171 4365931 or fax: + 44 (0)171 4363986, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.cla.co.uk Editor’s Note: CLA was founded in
1982 by publishers and authors to
licence education, government and businessto allow them to photocopy copyright books, journals and magazines. The licence fee is then used to compensate owners of copyright for the use of their work. Payment of the licence also protects licence holders from action under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, provided the terms of the licence are observed.
The High Court’s decision on the BT fair trading condition At the end of the year, BT agreedto the introduction of a Fair Trading Condition into its Telecommunications Licence which was introduced on 1 October 1996. However, whilst accepting the introduction of the new Condition BT sought, nevertheless, a judicial review of whether or not OFFEL was entitled to require such a Condition to be included in licences. The Condition, broadly, was aimed at prohibiting abusesof a dominant position and the making of anti-competitive agreements by such a major telecoms provider. The Condition came into force on 31 December 1996. OFTEL are delighted with the Court’s decision, since it intends to incorporate such a clause into a number of other licences and wanted the certainty that it was able to do so. Indeed, at the end of December, the UK granted 44 international licences - ending the international facilities duopoly of BT and Mercury Communications Limited and all of the 44 new licences contain a Fair Trading Condition. Had the Courts not agreed with OETEL, it could have proved rather embarrassingfor OETEL. Following the Court’s decision, there will be no need to modify any of those international licences. There had been some concern in BT’s mind that the Fair Trading Condition would allow OITEL, effectively, to act as judge and jury with no right of appeal from OFI’EL’s decision. However, the Fair Trading Condition does now have a number of procedural safeguards built into it - including provision for the establishment of an Advisory Body to counsel the Director General as to how the Condition should be enforced. On 12 December 1996,Jeremy Lever QC was appointed Computer
Briefing
Chairman of the Advisory Board, a Barrister with considerable experience in the competition field. OFTEL is currently conducting a consultation exercise as to who else should make up the Advisory Board. The Fair Trading Condition will now appear in new licences granted by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and will be incorporated fairly soon into existing licences of other relevant public telecommunications operators. Heather Rowe, Partner, Love11 White Durrant. Editor’s Note: On 2 August 1996, BT accepted a package of licence modifications. The major elements were: a retail price control of RPI 4.5% on the bills of four out of five of its residential customers from August 1997, and the insertion of a Fair Trading Condition prohibiting abuses of dominant position and anti-competitive agreements.
OFTEL consults on regulation of conditional access services Don Cruickshank, Director General of Telecommunications, haspublished an OFTEL consultative document on the practical regulation on conditional access services for digital services. Conditional access in this context concerns the control of the scrambling and unscrambling of digital broadcast signals. The document follows the laying before Parliament of the Regulations governing provision of conditional access services and the publication of a draft Telecommunications Act classlicence by the Department of Trade and Industry. The Regulationsare designedto implement a European Directive on advanced television services (95/47/EC) which was adopted in 1995. OFTEL’s consultative document concerns the regulation of the provision of conditional accessservices - the services which allow broadcasters access to the set top box once it is available on the market. The OFI’EL document has two main purposes: to signal early to those planning to launch digital television and other digital services the approach OFl’EL will take; and to encourage debate and discussionon a number of specific issues.It alsooutlines OlTEL’s plans to ensure that:
Law & Security Report Vol. 13 no. 2 1997 0 1997, Elsevier Science Ltd.
139
Briefing
CLSR BRIEFING NEWS AND COMMENT ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD Compiled
by Stephen
Saxby
United Kingdom Revised Code of Practice on Access to Government Information comes into effect On 1 February 1997 a revised Code of Practice on Access to Government Information came into effect. The Code was originally proposed in the 1993 White Paper on open government (published by HMSO, Cm 2290). After a period of consultation, the Code came into force on 4 April 1994. The latest revision takes account of the experience gained from the operation of the Code since its introduction. The Code includes five main commitments to: supply facts and analysiswith major policy decisions; open up internal guidelineswithout departments dealing with the public; supply reasonswith administrative decisions; provide information under the Citizen’s Charter about public services, what they cost, targets, performance, complaints and redress;and respond to requests for lnformation. The Code extends to almost all central Government departments and their agencies, as well as many other public bodies. Copies of the Code are available on the Internet at http://www.open.gov.uk/m-of-gov/code.htm. For paper copies of the Code, please telephone + 44 (0)345 223242 (Cabinet Office). Editor’s Note: A similar Code of Practice on openness in the National Health Service came into force in June 1995, and in the samemonth the Local
138
Computer scl997,
Law & Security Elsevier Science
Report Ltd.
Authority Associations published a Good Practice Note on Access to Information. This sets out the legal obligations which commit local government to Open Government, and recommends that individual Councils should draw up their own region codes governing their own policies on Access to Information.
UK Parliamentary debates and legislation online The UK Government hastaken the first steps to bring Parliamentary debates and legislation to the Internet. From 23 October 1996, Hansard (House of Commons Debates) has been available for browsing on the Internet. A search engine has also been introduced for key word searching. In addition, the site carries the Order Paper for each Parliamentary day, certain public Bills before Parliament, reports from certain Select Committees and the Weekly Information Bulletin. With effect from the first Public General Act of 1996, all new Public General Acts (and the Data Protection Act 19%) have been and will be published in full text form on the Internet by Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Web Pages.All Public General Acts appear asoriginally passedby Parliament. Subsequent amendments are not included, which will of course detract from their value as primary source material. Summariesof a wide range of earlier Acts comprising Long Title, Arrangement of Sections, ISBN, page content and price, are also avallable via these Web pages. The aim is that all new Public General Acts should be published on the Internet within 10 working days of their publication in printed form. In addition, all Statutory Instruments from 1 January 1997 will be published ln full text form as well.
Vol.
13 no. 2 1997
The aim here is to publish within 15 working days of their publication in printed form. All Crown Copyrights have been reserved. Concessions have been granted, however, to enableindividuals to down-load this text flle or print it for their own individual use.Reproduction of the text for the purpose of developing and publishing value-added products is also allowed, without prior permission or charge, provided reproduction is accurate, not malicious and is accompanied by an acknowledgement of Crown Copyright. Any other proposed reproduction requires the consent of the Copyright Unit as Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. More details of the rules governing exploitation of this material is given on the Internet site: http:// www.hmso.gov.uk
Major crack-down copying launched
on illegal
The Copyright Licensing Agency has launched a major campaign designed to encourage the National Health Service, national and local government, and dozens of other public bodies to comply with copyright law. Launching its new ‘Copywatch’ campaign, the CLA’s ‘Get Tough’ approach follows a successful pilot which has exposed thousands of pounds worth of illegal copying by UK business,and resulted in a number of legal actions and substantial fines for the perpetrators. The new campaign will urge business, government and public bodies, to take out CLA licences authorising photocopying, as well as warning them of the dangers of non-compliance. Speaking before the launch at the New British Library, the CLA’s Chief Executive, Cohn Hadley, said:
CLSR
“Illegal copying is the most common crime in the UK today. Eight out of 10 people admit to copying illegally in the workplace. As a consequence, authors and publishers are being deprived of millions of pounds in royalties and lost sales.This cannot be tolerated. Our new ‘Copywatch’ campaign will use all the latest investigative techniques to expose copyright theft in local and national government, schools and colleges, aswell asbusiness.” Just before Christmas, the CLA uncovered two major photocopying scams. In late October, under-cover detectives, acting on CLA’s behalf, investigated the Store Street Press copyshop after CLA received reports of an operation to cheat authors and publishers. CLA’s investigators found huge quantities of photocopying being undertaken by the shop without either a CLA licence or the authorization of the publishers. Remedies have been sought and the copyshop could face substantial costs and damages,or even a criminal prosecution. An out-of-court settlement valued at &50 000 was also agreed with engineering consultancy Dar Al-Handa41, one of the largest such firms in the UK The settlement followed a legal action for copyright infringement resulting directly from a call from a whistle blower to the CLA’s ‘Copywatch’ hotline +44 (0)171 4364242. These successful legal actions are the latest in a list which includes Morgan Stanley,Manchester City Council and Fournier Pharmaceuticals,with settlements in these and other case brought by CLA approaching six figure sums.Commenting, Mr Hadley said: “The risks of cutting corners with copyright law should now be all too clear. The new ‘Copywatch’ campaign demonstrates CLA’s determination vigorously to defend the rights of authors and publishers, and expose copyright theft. I strongly urge all businesses, institutions and public bodies to ensure they are complying with copyright and take out a CLA licence.” The Copyright Licensing Agency can be contacted at 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, WClP OLP, UK; tel: + 44 (0)171 4365931 or fax: + 44 (0)171 4363986, E-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.cla.co.uk Editor’s Note: CLA was founded in
1982 by publishers and authors to
licence education, government and businessto allow them to photocopy copyright books, journals and magazines. The licence fee is then used to compensate owners of copyright for the use of their work. Payment of the licence also protects licence holders from action under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, provided the terms of the licence are observed.
The High Court’s decision on the BT fair trading condition At the end of the year, BT agreedto the introduction of a Fair Trading Condition into its Telecommunications Licence which was introduced on 1 October 1996. However, whilst accepting the introduction of the new Condition BT sought, nevertheless, a judicial review of whether or not OFFEL was entitled to require such a Condition to be included in licences. The Condition, broadly, was aimed at prohibiting abusesof a dominant position and the making of anti-competitive agreements by such a major telecoms provider. The Condition came into force on 31 December 1996. OFTEL are delighted with the Court’s decision, since it intends to incorporate such a clause into a number of other licences and wanted the certainty that it was able to do so. Indeed, at the end of December, the UK granted 44 international licences - ending the international facilities duopoly of BT and Mercury Communications Limited and all of the 44 new licences contain a Fair Trading Condition. Had the Courts not agreed with OETEL, it could have proved rather embarrassingfor OETEL. Following the Court’s decision, there will be no need to modify any of those international licences. There had been some concern in BT’s mind that the Fair Trading Condition would allow OITEL, effectively, to act as judge and jury with no right of appeal from OFI’EL’s decision. However, the Fair Trading Condition does now have a number of procedural safeguards built into it - including provision for the establishment of an Advisory Body to counsel the Director General as to how the Condition should be enforced. On 12 December 1996,Jeremy Lever QC was appointed Computer
Briefing
Chairman of the Advisory Board, a Barrister with considerable experience in the competition field. OFTEL is currently conducting a consultation exercise as to who else should make up the Advisory Board. The Fair Trading Condition will now appear in new licences granted by the UK Department of Trade and Industry and will be incorporated fairly soon into existing licences of other relevant public telecommunications operators. Heather Rowe, Partner, Love11 White Durrant. Editor’s Note: On 2 August 1996, BT accepted a package of licence modifications. The major elements were: a retail price control of RPI 4.5% on the bills of four out of five of its residential customers from August 1997, and the insertion of a Fair Trading Condition prohibiting abuses of dominant position and anti-competitive agreements.
OFTEL consults on regulation of conditional access services Don Cruickshank, Director General of Telecommunications, haspublished an OFTEL consultative document on the practical regulation on conditional access services for digital services. Conditional access in this context concerns the control of the scrambling and unscrambling of digital broadcast signals. The document follows the laying before Parliament of the Regulations governing provision of conditional access services and the publication of a draft Telecommunications Act classlicence by the Department of Trade and Industry. The Regulationsare designedto implement a European Directive on advanced television services (95/47/EC) which was adopted in 1995. OFTEL’s consultative document concerns the regulation of the provision of conditional accessservices - the services which allow broadcasters access to the set top box once it is available on the market. The OFI’EL document has two main purposes: to signal early to those planning to launch digital television and other digital services the approach OFl’EL will take; and to encourage debate and discussionon a number of specific issues.It alsooutlines OlTEL’s plans to ensure that:
Law & Security Report Vol. 13 no. 2 1997 0 1997, Elsevier Science Ltd.
139