Just spotted this over at OpenDemocracy.net, where Becky Hogge - a one-time contributor of this parish and newly appointed executive director of the Open Rights Group - has interviewed Andrew Gowers, who recently conducted his review into Britain's intellectual property laws.
A lot of people were surprised by the outcome of the Gowers' Review (many had gloomily assumed the worst) but the former FT editor says he had a task on his hands:
My view is that for far too long intellectual property has been a priesthood on the one hand and a lobbyists' playground on the other.
A priesthood in the sense that it is enacted by these quite funny men of a certain age in legal chambers, dusty files all around them and so forth.
And a lobbyists' playground in the sense that the people who are IP holders, the people who say more IP protection is good are well-organised and well-focussed, articulate and well-financed. And the people who actually pay for it, in terms of consumers, are diffuse. So up until now it's been a one way argument."
With that in mind, it's not surprising that the music industry didn't like his verdict. Worth a read.
