BASCA ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR SCRUTINY OF ISP LIABILITY AND SAFE HARBOUR PROVISIONS

29 March 2015 - Press release

REPORT BY MP MIKE WEATHERLEY RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM SONGWRITERS AND COMPOSERS

 The British Academy of Songwriters and Composers (BASCA) has announced its support for a wide-ranging debate on the liability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and related ‘safe harbour’ provisions.

A new report by Mike Weatherley MP, former Intellectual Property Adviser to the Prime Minister, concludes that regulating and making ISP’s more accountable is an important step in the ongoing fight against piracy. He also recommends a new definition and framework for existing safe harbour provisions.

BASCA supports ongoing dialogue on this subject and fully endorses this report’s recommendations.  It hopes that this is the just the first stage in a proactive stance from the government towards making ISPs more responsible for their role in copyright infringement.

In light of this report and it’s findings BASCA is hopeful that discussions for bringing ISPs within a regulated framework of operation above and beyond the broad scope currently provided by European legislation will have a positive outcome. Furthermore it looks forward to establishing a collaborative relationship with ISPs to help legitimise their services.

BASCA’s recently launched ‘The Day The Music Died,’ a new campaign aimed at ensuring songwriters and composers receive a fair share of digital income. One of the key elements of this campaign is a call for the removal of safe harbour provisions for content platforms such as YouTube.  Such platforms benefit from others creativity and knowingly hold infringing copyright works. There has been significant ‘scope-creep’ for such platforms, which exist to provide content to consumers; therefore BASCA has called for urgent clarification over what safe harbour provisions should cover and what they should not.  It has also highlighted the need for a quick and more cost effective process to help rights holders permanently remove infringing content from these websites.

Vick Bain, CEO of BASCA said, “ BASCA fully supports the conclusions and recommendations contained in Mike Weatherley’s report. We think there is an urgent need for a debate on the issues raised and on the role of ISP’s in the ongoing battle against copyright infringement. ISPs need to not only be ‘more proactive’ in taking down multiple copies of infringing works; they need to take down and stay down all copies of infringing works, not just the specific cases they are notified of.  We would also encourage the UK government to go even further particularly on the subject of safe harbour provisions, which are being systematically abused by some platforms and hope that this is the start of a constructive and collaborative debate on issues that directly impact songwriters and composers.”

To read the report, click here. Or PDF