Sir, We are concerned about the sudden, and unexplained, change in the Government’s position in relation to the proposed Copyright Term Extension for Sound Recordings.

In 2006 the Government received the recommendations of an independent and comprehensive review of intellectual property policy, commissioned by the Chancellor, then Gordon Brown. The review, led by Andrew Gowers, took “an evidence-based approach to its policy analysis”, supplementing a formal call for evidence with commissioned external expertise. The review examined several extension options, including the increase to 70 years, and explicitly rejected an extension as being a bad deal for the UK in cultural and economic terms.

The Government clearly supported this view. What then occasions a sudden apparent volte-face two years later? We are not aware of any new evidence that has come to light, and the only independent study available since then, that of Professor Hugenholtz at the University of Amsterdam, has also been highly critical of extension.

There has been some talk of moral arguments for extension but it is hard to discern a compelling moral case for a proposal, the prime effect of which is to benefit major record label shareholders and a few, already highly successful, artists while imposing significantly greater costs on new creators, the general listening public and the custodians of our cultural heritage.

As Gowers concluded, and the Government has until now consistently reaffirmed, policymaking in this area should be evidence-based and designed to promote the broader welfare of society as a whole. Policies that appear to reflect nothing more than lobbying will only perpetuate the “marked lack of public legitimacy” that the Gowers report lamented — and discourage those who wish to contribute constructively to future government policymaking in these areas. We therefore call on the Government to present any evidence for this apparent change of policy.

Professor Lionel Bently

Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge

Dr Rufus Pollock

Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law University of Cambridge

Professor John Kay

Chair, British Academy Copyright Review

Professor Paul Klemperer

Explore Letters

• Feedback