Creative Archive Licence scheme launched

Media & arts organisations, universities and libraries have today been urged to join an innovative new scheme designed to give the public access to footage and sound from some of the largest film, television and radio archives in the UK, as well as specially commissioned material.
The BBC, Channel 4, the British Film Institute (bfi) and the Open University (OU) have today launched the Creative Archive Licence, which will pave the way for legal downloading of selected material from the Internet.
At a launch seminar in London, the four partners in the Creative Archive Licence Group issued a call for action for other organisations to join them.
The appeal has already produced a positive response, with Teachers' TV and Arts Council England committing themselves to work with the Creative Archive Licence.
The Creative Archive Licence will give a new generation of media users legal access to material which they can use to express their creativity and share their knowledge – all completely free of charge.
The licence has been launched following a commitment in the BBC's Building Public Value document, in which it pledged to "help establish a common resource which will extend the public's access while protecting the commercial rights of intellectual property owners."
The hope is that pilot download schemes, to be launched by the partners, will help fuel creativity activity across Britain as people utilise the footage in personal projects, classroom presentations and their own artistic creations.
In the long term the aim is that some of those creations can be uploaded back on to the website from where the content was obtained, to be shared with others across the Internet.
The Creative Archive Licence will allow people to download and use footage and audio for non-commercial purposes. Each user will agree to abide by the licence conditions before gaining access to any of the available material.
Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC, said: "The Creative Archive Licence provides a unique solution to one of the key challenges of rights in the digital age, allowing us to increase the public value of our archives by giving people the chance to use video and audio material for their own non-commercial purposes.
"All four partners in the Creative Archive Licence Group feel this is a fantastic opportunity for other broadcasters and rights holders, and we would urge them to join us."
(GB)