Written evidence submitted by the Research Councils UK (RCUK)

CONTEXT

1. Research Councils UK (RCUK) is a strategic partnership set up to champion the research supported by the seven UK Research Councils. RCUK was established in 2002 to enable the Councils to work together more effectively to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of their research, training and innovation activities, contributing to the delivery of the Government’s objectives for science and innovation. Further details are available at www.rcuk.ac.uk.

2. This evidence is submitted by RCUK on behalf of all Research Councils and represents their independent views. It does not include or necessarily reflect the views of the Knowledge and Innovation Group in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The submission is made on behalf of the following Councils:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Medical Research Council (MRC)

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)

Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)

3. This response addresses the issues raised by the Review only where relevant to the remit and activities of the Research Councils.

4. The Research Councils are supportive of the Review’s recommendations and the focus on new knowledge areas and digital copyright and copyright in datasets/orphan works (http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/media/news/2011news/Pages/110518.aspx) together with the Government’s broad acceptance of its recommendations and proposals to act on them.

5. RCUK considers that the implementation of the review’s recommendations will help to remove potential barriers to creativity and innovation and, by contributing to the UK’s attractiveness as a base for discovery, will enable UK Research to further contribute to growth, prosperity and wellbeing of the UK.

6. RCUK welcomes the recommendations that will allow greater mass digitisation. This will allow digital preservation of our cultural and scientific output, and enable researchers to use data and text mining to deliver new discoveries in medicine and other areas of research.   The Councils endorse proposals to clarify and make access to and use of data easier for the researcher. 

7. Implementation of the Review recommendations in relation to changes in copyright law would build on the significant work already carried out by the Research Councils and other funders, for example: through implementing Open Access policies; developing a sustainable corpus of medical literature in UK PubMed Central (UKPMC) and developing new tools such as text mining to support the discovery needs of researchers. 

8. The Councils strongly support the recommendation to extend the current exemption for "non-commercial research" to include the use of text mining or other computer search and analysis techniques on data and text and highlight the increasing importance of text mining as a research methodology in its own right, with the potential to lead to new discoveries in medicine and other areas of research. This change is possible within the remit of the current EU Directive and would for example enable UKPMC to deploy existing text mining tools on a much larger corpus of literature.  The Councils also support proposals to lift the current restrictions placed on orphan works. Currently millions of orphan works cannot be licensed at all, or cannot be digitised and made available.  The Councils also endorse the need for greater clarity of licensing terms and more particularly for the Government to legislate to ensure that the exceptions are protected and cannot be overridden by contractual terms.

9. With regards to Recommendation 6 that relates to patent thickets, the Councils are supportive of the proposals put forward and recognize there may be a need to tighten up existing practices and be clear about methods of implementation. The Review recommends work-sharing and focuses on the need for more trust by national patent offices in the PCT international searching authorities. It is not clear what innovation and growth goals will be with respect to establishing a fee structure. The implication is that patent fees in the UK could be increased at later stages in the patent life cycle but recognises that this should not be such that it becomes a disincentive. If any increase is to be suggested, the Councils agree that implementing it at the later stages is a better strategy than at filing stage or within the first few years post filing.

10. The Councils support the general recommendation that the proposed changes take place as quickly as possible, particularly for those which are already possible within existing legislative framework, and that the UK takes a lead in modifying those aspects of legislation which have to be agreed with the rest of the EU. The Councils are working closely with counterparts across the EU and internationally on Open Access initiatives. Such collaboration, which identifies shared goals and priorities, could be beneficial in influencing and responding to changes in legislation.

11. The Councils endorse the Report’s recommendations that relate to enforcement and support the recognition in the Government response that intellectual property rights cannot fulfill a useful function unless they are enforceable. Proposals to introduce (subject to establishing the value for money case) a small claims track in the Patents County Court for cases with £5000 or less at issue are to be welcomed.

12. The Councils also welcome the recommendation that "Government should ensure that development of the IP System is driven as far as possible by objective evidence" and the Research Councils are taking specific steps to enhance the evidence base through the establishment of a new ‘Centre for Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy’, with potential funding from the AHRC, EPSRC and ESRC, with support from NESTA, IPO and the Technology Strategy Board and which will focus on the creative economy in the digital age.  Also welcome is the call in the report to modernise copyright licensing to enable the UK's world-leading achievements in creative content and creative industries to continue to flourish, bringing the UK global competitive advantage.

5 September 2011