By Bill Jones

It appears that the recently touted creation of a Rights Agency in the UK is unlikely to make it to the final Digital Britain Report i.e. the idea and recommendation will be dropped. Lord Carter has suggested that the concept has apparently met much opposition; the main one being that the creation of a new government sponsored institution is likely to act as a dampener on commercial deals rather than accelerating new business models. Apparently stakeholders view the idea as having gotten out of hand and out of control when all they wanted was an informal forum for agreeing on a voluntary code.

The government seems to acknowledge that this would not be a good development.  We’ll have to wait until June to find out whether this is the case or not.

This is particularly interesting inasmuch as it is the first time in many a year when government has stepped back from becoming more interventionist in the creative industries.  Maybe this is a turning point.

How this plays in Brussels’ European Union remains to be seen. Their general propensity remains to adopt a more prescriptive approach which they may continue, or alternatively the UK’s approach may strike a chord with the European Commission.  

Bill Jones is CEO of Global Village Ltd.