Isn't it supposed to slow down over summer? Not for us, things are busy and we thought it was about time that we updated you all.
First services launching
The very exciting news is that we're getting ready, in the next few weeks, to launch the first live services built on Copyright Hub technology. This will be a significant moment because it is the moment the basic technology is released "in the wild" for the first time. It will be the start of the rapid evolutionary change we aim to create. Following on from the first we have 90 more Hub Applications which build up across content types, business models and technical complexity - the faster we can release them, the faster we can stimulate that evolution. If you want to know more about them or add one of your own please let us know. And stay tuned for announcements!
Copyright Done Right - your quotes and logos wanted
Now that we're launching live services we are also focusing on highlighting the breadth of our support and increasing it. So we're launching a dedicated microsite called Copyright Done Right to highlight and garner support. We want people broadly to understand why The Copyright Hub is important, and we especially want to support the implementation of many more Hub Applications. To do this we need more resources, so we're looking to governments, philanthropists, foundations and individuals internationally, as well as the industry, to support our next phase of work.
It is incredible that industry donations have supported us so far, through all of the riskiest and least certain parts of our early work, and we already know that this will continue and increase as companies dedicate more resources to implementing our technology within their own organisations. We also need more resource of our own to deploy alongside that and we are actively out raising money.
You can preview the microsite at www.copyrightdoneright.org. You'll see a number of quotes from a range of people and we'd love to add yours so please send any supportive comments you'd like us to feature, and your logos to add to our supporter grid. Plus any comments and feedback... all to info@copyrighthub.org please.
And whizz to the end of this post to see some of the nice things people have been saying about us which we'll be featuring on the site... hopefully alongside you...
Stationers Awards 2015
We were delighted to recently win a Stationers' Company Innovation Excellence Award. The Stationers Company was, in a way, the original copyright hub a few centuries ago so it's quite fitting that our first award has come from them. Quite amazing, too, to win an award before we have launched any live services. We're very proud and honoured to have won.
As promised, a new video!
Our first video last year got a great response, and we got lots of feedback suggesting that using the same style to explain a bit more about aspects of copyright would be valuable. So we've been working with the same team to create a sequel. This one focuses on what copyright is, in practice, and how it can be used. Along the way it explains a bit about why the creative industries work they way they do. You can see a sneak peek of the video here, let us know what you think. Have any ideas for topics we can cover in the future? We have copyright exceptions, and a bit of history in our sights next. We might move on to some more specific stuff about individual sectors of the creative industries. Let us know and drop us an email at info@www.copyrighthub.co.uk.
More about Hub Applications
We used to call these Use Cases and now we call them Hub Applications. They're the reason we're so confident and excited about our progress, and they're the reason we need to scale up and do more. We'll be including details of some of them on the Copyright Done Right site so have a look there if you want to know more, or ask us and we'll send you some details. We have more waiting in the wings which are quite interesting and could extend our plans into some hitherto untouched areas. Obviously we would like yours too. They usually emerge out of meetings and workshops so if you would like a meeting or a workshop with your team let us know and you might come out with some new ideas for us.
International and political things
It's very satisfying that The Copyright Hub attracts plenty of attention - both from the creative industries and from policy makers - in many countries. We have frequent meetings with officials, politicians, industry people and academics from a wide range of countries who want to know more about what we're doing and whether they can learn from or adopt any of it. In April we spent a week in Washington DC as guests of the US Patent and Trademark Office, meeting interested parties of all stripes and participating in a public - and very positive - session about the possibility of implementing the Hub in the USA.
Our message, of course, is that everything we're doing is open and we're keen to share it and encourage adoption. We'll have an announcement to make soon about one country in particular getting closer to our work and making a financial contribution as well. We very much want to encourage more direct interest from outside the UK - not just because we're being generous but because any solution which only works for one country, or business model, or media type is no solution at all. So please do encourage interest and contact from everywhere...
Other interesting happenings...
We're not The Copyright Hub Ltd any more. We're The Copyright Hub Foundation which we feel better reflects the nature and intention of the organisation. Still a company limited by guarantee, still the same registration, still the same board and make-up. Just a new name for the organisation behind The Copyright Hub. We're starting to use copyrighthub.org for our emails and copyrighthub.org is the future home of our "corporate" website and developer portal, also reflecting our global reach and ambitions. Oh, and we've tweaked our logo a bit ready for our new websites. Not a dramatic change, just some subtle visual improvements which make it work better especially when it's small.
Lastly... some quotes...
"The Copyright Hub is a brilliantly simple idea which enables the exploitation of digital content by its owners. It's a British idea with universal significance and it can be a catalyst for the growth of our creative industries." Sir Peter Bazalgette - Arts Council England
"The Copyright Hub is an enabling technology for UK plc – one of the most important initiatives for the media industry I have ever come across." Hermann Hauser - Amadeus Capital and father of the Catapults
"Properly supported and developed the Copyright Hub can become a powerful global resource for the creative industries placing the UK at the centre of copyright licensing worldwide." Lord Clement-Jones CBE - House of Lords
"The Copyright Hub is a key enabler to make the digital content market work better, work more democratically across the globe, opening up whole new possibilities for creators." Francis Gurry - Director General, WIPO
"If we are to maintain copyright in the digital age we need to make sure that people know where to go to get the licences they need and for this to be easy. The Copyright Hub is making an essential contribution in doing just that and is an effort that is warmly welcomed and fully supported by PRS for Music." Robert Ashcroft - Chief Executive, PRS for Music
"The Copyright Hub is an idea whose time has come - it takes advantage of the internet to make licensing clear, simple and transparent, facilitating millions of transactions in a way that was simply impossible in an analogue age. It's a visionary initiative." Lord Puttnam CBE - House of Lords
"BAPLA proudly supports the ambitions of the Copyright Hub to bring connectivity and education to creators and users of all kinds involved with copyright content. We are also delighted that photography was at the forefront of launching this incredible technology and look forward to seeing it develop into an 'everyday' process for all." Isabelle Doran - Chairperson, BAPLA
These and an increasing number of others feature on CopyrightDoneRight.org - we want more still so please send us yours. Thanks for supporting us. It's going to be a fun summer!