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[[File:Mozfest 2014 workshops.JPG|thumb|Workshops at Mozfest 2014]] 
The [https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/intellectual-property-office UK’s Intellectual Property Office] last week announced the launch of a [https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-opens-access-to-91-million-orphan-works new orphan works licensing scheme].


''This post was written by Stuart Prior, Fundraising Assistant''
This allows individuals and institutions wishing to use a work of intellectual property where the rights holder cannot be identified to apply for a licence from the IPO. Licences are awarded where the IPO is satisfied that the applicant conducted a “diligent” search for the rights holder, and they have paid a licensing and administration fee.


I recently spent the weekend at [http://2014.mozillafestival.org/ Mozfest], the annual Mozilla conference, held in Greenwich.
This scheme brings forward little that is new. The rule allowing re-use after diligent search has been part of copyright law in the UK for many years. The primary purpose of the new licences seems to be to provide greater certainty to re-users that the searches they have undertaken are sufficiently extensive to guarantee legal protection should the copyright owner come forward.


The aim of going was to find out how Mozilla’s community worked, to make project and fundraising contacts in the open sector and, after my role in organising our own community conference, [https://wikimania2014.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania Wikimania 2014], to see how they did it.
Searches have to be exceptionally comprehensive before the Intellectual Property Office will certify them as ‘diligent’ and although there are new guidelines which will provide greater clarity for cultural institutions, the imposition of an official fee is concerning.


Also, to see and support in any way I could, the [[Open_Coalition|Open Coalition]] work that Bekka Kahn was doing there in the form of running the Community Building track of the conference.
Even with this new scheme in place orphan works can still not be easily used by the Wikimedia projects and the volunteers who write and curate them.


It was both very similar and very different. There were more workshops and discussions than talks, which was refreshing, if a little intimidating. The content was often very technical and platform based, and not being a Mozillan, unfamiliar to me.
A real solution to the orphan works problem must await a more radical approach that goes beyond both this and the existing [http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/copyright/orphan_works/index_en.htm EU Orphan Works Directive].


But, what felt exactly the same was the sense of community and optimism. The fact that people were friendly and open to talking to you, and I spent a lot of time explaining Wikimedia projects and how the movement worked, and met some interesting people with some interesting projects.
We believe that this should be addressed as part of a more far-reaching review of copyright as a whole, at a national and European level. For example, a simple reduction in copyright terms would instantly make many works which are currently orphaned available for reuse.


Moreover, Mozilla’s focus on creating an open web, and on encouraging digital literacy and engaging young people with the Open Source movement is invaluable to a free and open society. With serious concerns about online monopolies and a restricted, highly commodified and profoundly un-free internet, this is increasingly important and something we in the Wikimedia movement should all be supporting.
You can see the recent Free Knowledge Advocacy Group EU position paper on copyright reform – of which we are a signatory – [https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/EU_policy/Position_Paper_on_EU_Copyright here].
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/11/a-weekend-at-mozfest/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>
<span class="plainlinks">[https://blog.wikimedia.org.uk/2014/11/response-to-the-new-ipo-orphan-works-licensing-scheme/ <nowiki>[</nowiki>...<nowiki>]</nowiki>]</span>


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Revision as of 16:04, 6 November 2014

Cymraeg | English

Wikimedia UK

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