Speaking at an event in London, Prime Minister David Cameron says that the country's copyright laws will be reviewed over the next six months to allow companies such as Facebook and Google to use content created by others.

In his speech, Cameron said: "The service they provide depends on taking a snapshot of all the content on the internet at any one time and they feel our copyright system is not as friendly to this sort of innovation as it is in the United States. Over there, they have what are called 'fair-use' provisions, which some people believe gives companies more breathing space to create new products and services."

He added: "So I can announce today that we are reviewing our IP laws, to see if we can make them fit for the internet age. I want to encourage the sort of creative innovation that exists in America."

The move could impact photographers, who have resisted the relaxation in the country's copyright laws asking, instead, for the Copyright Act of 1988 to be strengthened to prevent any unapproved use of their images.

The government proposes to look at four different areas, according to Cameron - Barriers to new internet-based business models, including the costs of obtaining permissions from existing rights-holders; the cost and complexity of enforcing intellectual property rights within the UK and internationally; the interaction between IP and Competition frameworks; the cost and complexity to SMEs of accessing services to help them protect and exploit their IP.

According to Cameron, some of these goals could be achieved with the introduction of a improved "Fair Use" policy similar to the one in place in the US. "Fair use" allows for limited use of copyright material - such as images - for commentary, criticism, news reporting and other research.

The review, led by the Intellectual Property Office, will end in April 2011. However, John Toner, the freelance organiser for the National Union of Journalists, as decried the review's goals. "Copyright reviews seem to come along every six months," he tells BJP. "What David Cameron appears to be proposing sounds very similar to the recommendations from the Gowers’ Review. Put simply, he wishes to reduce authors’ rights and give consumers free access to other people’s work. If this is the case, we will do our utmost to resist."

Speaking to BJP, freelance photographer Pete Jenkins, who has made a large contribution to the copyright debate in the photographic industry over the past few years, says he's very concerned about the review. "Bearing in mind the battles that we had earlier in this year with regard to orphan works and the apparent intransience of the then administration and IPO with regard to creators, always seemingly supporting the desires of big businesses and publishers, and it seems to the expense of the lone creator, yes I am very concerned," he says.

However, Jenkins hope that by looking at the "cost and complexity to SMRs of accessing services to help them protect and exploit their intelectual property," the government will include photographers in the process. "I hope as a sole-trader creator this does include me and the thousands like me who produce so much of the created work in this country," he tells BJP. "It would be soul destroying to find that the Government's support merely meant feeding the low-paid creator further into the multi-national publisher sausage machine."

He adds: "Until I see the actual speech and know what is actually intended I am currently simply nervous and worried. The Conservatives did support us in getting Clause 43 removed from the Digital Economy Bill - I hope they are not going to let us down now that they have the helm."

But, the Association of Photographers is taking a more cautious stand, opting to wait-and-see. "Until the review starts we have no idea what it may mean for photography," says Gwen Thomas of the AOP. "We will participate, as always, in the review. As has already been stated by a media law firm, any changes will have to be inline with EU legislation."

The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies has yet to return BJP's requests for comment.

However, Mark Owen of media and entertainment law firm Hartbottle & Lewis, says the prospect of another review was "depressing", a waste of money and reflects a lack of strategic thinking in policy making.

"The Prime Minister may be unaware, but his policy advisors should not be, that there have been countless expensive and quickly forgotten reviews of copyright in recent years and it is very unlikely that yet another one will achieve anything much other than waste large amounts of money and time. The focus is apparently to be on fair use defences, in other words what types of uses of copyright works should be allowed without having to get the rights-owner’s permission."

Owen adds: "These are largely dictated by EU law and the UK has little room to manoeuvre on  them. It is also unlikely that the current state of the defences is why the US has Silicon Valley and the UK does not.

Developing...

This article was first published on 04 November 2010 at 5.30pm (London time). It was updated on 05 November 2010 at 1pm with further details of the government's plans and reactions from photographers such as Pete Jenkins. It was further updated on 08 November 2010 at 11am with a reaction from the National Union of Journalists, and at 4pm with a response from the Association of Photographers.