Commerical & Technical

As was predicted, the Patent Office White Paper Intellectual property and innovation (Cmnd 9712, HMSO, £6.70) was published in April. Bold type is used in the White Paper to highlight firm government proposals and I believe these make two very serious threats to the interests of industrialists and the general community, and will make problems for librarians and information officers. In each case the effect of the government's proposals will be to raise costs and create barriers to the flow of much needed information: (1) The fair dealing sections 6 and 7 of the Copyright Act 1956, which has enabled information to be photocopied for ‘research and private study’ will be amended, if the government embody their proposal in legislation ‘to exclude copying for commercial purposes’. Who will decide where the border between commercial and non‐commercial falls? Will the librarian or information officer be expected to give summary judgments all day long on differential charges? And why should commercial enterprises be expected to pay a higher price which will simply be passed on to the public? Will permission have to be sought from the copyright owner? Will separate accounting be required? (2) Earlier in the report when concluding the section commending increased use of computers and online searching, the recommendation includes these words ‘… the government recognises that the charges made for these services will have to be set at a level which does not give rise to unfair competition with the private sector’. Why should the small and medium size businesses (much mentioned as ‘SME's’ in the report) have to pay inflated prices for information the government believes they should be using? The much talked about ‘efficiency’ which means not using two people where one will suffice and thus reducing costs, is deliberately rejected by the government who are in effect saying, ‘if you have access to our data bases you must pay the equivalent of a hefty profit to an unnecessary middle man, as well as the basic costs of our service’.