David Cameron urged to back UK copyright law shake-up

CALL ME DAVE, David Cameron has been asked to back a shakeup in UK copyright laws in a move that will doubtless go nowhere.

Cameron, the current Prime Minister supported copyright law reform when he was in opposition by suggesting that the DEA should be DOA, but quickly forgot about that when he got into Number 10. Yet this latest urging might have some impact - particularly if media cartel lobbyists have taken an early Summer holiday and real business interests get involved.

The Hargreaves report due to be released later today will set out suggestions for how to make the UK a great place for doing digital business and, as such, will require that draconian rules surrounding the use of copyrighted media be dropped.

Professor Hargreaves, author of the report, will argue that the UK should become a digital clearing house for content, and should allow that content be moved and shared freely between users and organisations, without being encumbered by the law.

This would make it easier for digital firms to set up business in the UK, source content that they want to use, from whichever owners, and use it.

"The prize is to build on the UK's current competitive advantage in creative content to become a leader in licensing services for global content markets; in short to make the UK the best place in the world to do business in digital content," quotes the Financial Times from the report.

"It is not fanciful to suggest such a development would be of comparable importance over time to the UK's position as the leading service support centre in the European timezone in financial services." µ