Professor Hargreaves comments are enlightening and refreshing. The EU should take note, in light of the impending publication of the IPRED review:

Make policy based on evidence not lobbying. Creative industries need to change their business model. Anti-piracy lobby groups are 'alarmist'. Scarcity of reliable data to back up enforcement measures. Digital Economy Act should be carefully monitored.

The UK review of copyright law, led by Professor Ian Hargreaves, has concluded that the copyright framework is outdated and obstructive for innovation in the digital age. He calls for copyright policy to be made on weight of evidence, not weight of lobbying, and accused the creative industries of being alarmist about 'piracy'.

On enforcement, he warns that governments must do more to ensure that the creative industries make available legal content, saying that stronger enforcement measures such as the Digital Economy Act cannot work unless more effort is put into the business model. He is pointedly critical of the available research which claims to point to the scale of piracy, saying that it is unreliable. And he is scathing of the whinging

Read more: UK copyright review: focus on reform not enforcement

Does Ed Richards believe  this cleft stick policy can be effective in the  digital age?*

 Ed Richards,  chief executive of the UK telecoms regulator Ofcom, has  told Parliament that he does not expect the first letters to be sent out under the Digital Economy Act for at least a year. Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport committee earlier this month, he said that there were ‘internal clearance processes' to be gone through, as well as the European Commission all of which could take ‘some months'. On top of that, Ofcom has to set up the new appeals body mandated by the act - if the EU approves it.

Based on an uncorrected transcript of the committee proceedings ( see link below), Ed  Richards  was put under pressure by ‘content creator' of  romantic novels,  and former EMI press officer,  ( not entirely a disinterested party) Conservative MP Louise Bagshawe.  She wanted to know  why he couldn't move more  quickly to get the warning notices out to alleged P2P infringers.

Mr  Richards  explained that the Initial

Read more: Ofcom chief: DE Act kick-off delayed by a year

A judgement in  the UK High Court yesterday squashed the legal challenge to the Digital Economy Act by BT and TalkTalk. It  rejected  a series of legal claims concerning notification to the European Union, incompatibility with European Internet and privacy law, and dis-proportionality,  allowing only one very minor claim regarding costs.

It is  astonishing that the judge has come up with a judgement on this  complex matter in such a very short time. He has taken  less than a month. Compare it for example, the ECJ, where the Advocate General  took 3 months before he delivered an opinion on the Sabam v Scarlet case, another major European case on copyright enforcement.

 The judge, Mr Justice Parker,  is somewhat dismissive of BT and TalkTalk's arguments, and critical of them for delivering a substantial economic analysis ( the content of which is not public, but the judgement complains of  the volume of it).

 He instead comes down firmly on the side of the government -  which de facto,  is also the rights-holders.  It was notable that the government and the rights-holders sat together  - and laughed together - in the court-room.

 Overall, the judgement does not

Read more: DE Act court ruling - a twisted balance