Coadec

Coadec To Champion UK Digital Businesses

Posted: March 5th, 2010 | Author: mike | Filed under: 1 | 6 Comments »

Coadec, The Coalition for a Digital Economy, is a new entity being launched today to support the creation of a lasting, sustainable and innovative Digital Economy for British businesses.

Coadec will represent the new wave of British businesses built on technological innovation. Coadec will champion the notion that technology innovation is the driver of the new economy. As such it will put modern arguments in favour of the digital economy and technology business to government and policy makers from all political parties.

Coadec will, in the next few days, announce a roster of businesses and industry organisations which support these aims.

Watch out for a meeting to be organised in London, location to be announced.

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Coadec is deeply concerned that:

1. The Digital Economy Bill in its current form will impact the innovation sector of the UKs digital economy in unintended ways.

2. The DE Bill risks choking innovation in the long term, actually leading to a less innovative digital economy and thus less copyright to actually protect.

Coadec is happy to back the protection of IP but what it doesn’t want are protectionist measures which indirectly damage innovation or impedes the fostering of future innovation.

The DE Bill currently very narrowly protects a slice of “traditional” IP in a way that unintentionally damages future innovation and thus the UK’s digital economy.

The UK’s digital businesses must now be recognised as equal parties in “the creative sector”, not just in words but in action.

The Coalition for A Digital Economy – An Initial Statement of Principles

1. Coadec will support the creation of a lasting, sustainable and innovative Digital Economy in the UK and believes that innovation is the driver of the new economy. As such it will champion the modern arguments in favour of the digital economy and digital business.

2. Coadec believes The Digital Economy is best served by policy which removes barriers to fast innovation, not protectionism.

3. Coadec does not support copyright infringement.

4. Coadec champions businesses which work with the innovation platform of the Internet, not against it.

5. Coadec believes a DE Bill is required for the UK to thrive – but the current planned route will not work.

6. Coadec believes the DE Bill in its current form will stifle innovation specifically preventing innovative UK businesses from participating in the revolution of social media.

7. Coadec believes the DE Bill’s current approach to WiFi will have a profoundly retrograde effect on the ability of British businesses to innovate. Small businesses providing open Wi-Fi services will be left open to penalties for copyright infringement – something they are unable to control – making it impossible for them to offer these services and thus compete in the digital economy.

8. Coadec is concerned that placing the liability for civil copyright infringement on an internet account will turn many digital businesses into ISPs under law, and therefore unable to supply services to customers, with minimum barriers, within the law.

9. Coadec believes patent and copyright are important and remain relevant to the UK’s creative economy, but that innovation, speed and time to market is increasingly more important to business in today’s highly competitive and globalised world.

10. Coadec believes that British Digital Businesses must not be tied down by legislation which hands a competitive advantage to businesses based in other legal jurisdictions.

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