Bits and pieces

If ever there was a photo
that called for a witty caption,
this is it ...

Today's the day the European Commission is expected to introduce legislation to bolster the digital music market in Europe by streamlining the way that agencies collect royalties on behalf of copyright holders. Michel Barnier, the Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, is expected to propose a law aimed at resolving problems at the 250 collecting societies that operate in the European Union, some of which are said to be are holding back growth in the digital music market. Says Barnier:

“Collecting societies need to modernize their operations to meet the challenges of a fast-evolving digital economy. An underlying problem is the insufficient transparency and control of the way collecting societies are managed”. 

Thanks, Bob, for the link.

The Alliance Against Intellectual Property Theft has a new chairman: it's Richard Mollet. Richard, Chief Executive of the Publishers Association, takes over from the Alliance's founder Lavinia Carey, Director-General of the British Video Association. The Alliance has 21 member organisations that span a wide variety of sectors.

Not all readers of the 1709 Blog follow the IPKat, so I thought it might be a good idea to mention the Katonomist Nicola Searle's solo debut post for that blog, "Starstruck with the Audio Visual Treaty", which examines, through the spectacles of an economist, the likely beneficiaries of the Beijing Treaty. You can read her analysis here. Nicola can be seen modelling her economics spectacles on the right.