Private copying of CDs and DVDs will soon be legal in the UK

[Arthur]

At last!

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7715BP20110802 (Via)

Britain will signal on Wednesday that it intends to legalize copying of CDs or DVDs onto digital music players or computers for personal use, a government source said on Tuesday.

The move was one of the recommendations made in a review of Britain's intellectual property framework carried out by Professor Ian Hargreaves earlier this year at the request of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Business Secretary Vince Cable will announce on Wednesday the government's response to Hargreaves' report.

Hargreaves, professor of digital economy at Cardiff School of Journalism, found that Britain's 300-year-old copyright laws were obstructing innovation and growth and said a shake-up could add nearly 8 billion pounds ($13 billion) to the economy.

Cable will signal the government will agree to Hargreaves' recommendation to legalize private copying or "format shifting" of legitimately-purchased copyright works, the source said.

The practice has already been legalized in European countries except for Britain, Ireland and Malta.

The change will mean a consumer may copy a CD they have bought onto another device such as their iPod or home computer.

It will not allow people to share content over the internet without copyright owners' permission, such as on file-sharing sites.

The government will also agree to another Hargreaves' recommendation to introduce an exception to copyright for parody, the source said.

This will make it legal for comedians to parody someone else's work without seeking permission from the copyright holder.

The government has not yet indicated what stance it will take on another Hargreaves' recommendation -- the introduction of a central digital copyright exchange where licenses in copyright could be bought and sold, helping simplify the way businesses purchase rights to material.

[FN-GM]

Finally! It makes sense to allow this.

[AyatollahPies]

Oh goody good. We'll be finally allowed to talk about the best means of ripping one's own content and creating one's own media centre ala XBMC.

;-)

[laserblazer]

How does this affect copying school VHS tapes to another media?

[pete]

How does this affect copying school VHS tapes to another media?

I would say the school isn't a consumer in the sense implied in the Reuters article. It's a business.

I'll also say that I'm probably going to have to amend our "yes, this is piracy too" guide to head off "but we can make legal copies of our personal CDs now, why can't I store them in my home share?"

[nephilim]

Its perfectly fine, as it will backdate to ALL media (tape to CD, VHS to bluray as well as copying to physical hardware).

Domino said it depends on how you obtained the VHS, I am sure he was joking but it infers as to whether or not the VHS is legitimately obtained (IE Not stolen).

Now time for me to enjoy more of Iceland!

[localzuk]

I also like this bit:

The government has not yet indicated what stance it will take on another Hargreaves' recommendation -- the introduction of a central digital copyright exchange where licenses in copyright could be bought and sold, helping simplify the way businesses purchase rights to material.

Will this mean the end of the half dozen different copyright licensing agencies that we currently have to deal with to be able to put on a show? I hope so. The current system is ridiculous.

It is a good sign that they are finally dealing with the old-fashioned copyright laws in this country, after they made them worse with the Digital Economy Act.

I would say the school isn't a consumer in the sense implied in the Reuters article. It's a business."

Ah but if your'e an academy or similar, you're a registered company, and therefore the business is legally a 'person', so this would apply. I don't know about normal state schools though. It all really depends on the way the bill ends up being written.

[Roberto]

How does this affect copying school VHS tapes to another media?

Well it'll get IT staff more hassle from staff who think it's now legal to copy anything and everything for the school or by cheeky staff who want the IT team to rip their personal media for them.

[pete]

Ah but if your'e an academy or similar, you're a registered company, and therefore the business is legally a 'person', so this would apply. I don't know about normal state schools though. It all really depends on the way the bill ends up being written.

Consumer law doesn't apply to businesses.

A law that says "private individuals can format-shift legally acquired content" wouldn't cover schools or businesses.

Whereas a law that says "a person or entity who obtains "X" legally, can format-shift it provided the usage is the same as that allowed by the original licence, would cover everyone."

But since it's merely a couple of paragraphs on Reuters without any substantiating content, it's a bit early to speculate how they'll do it.

[Arthur]

The recommendations have been accepted! Not sure when they will become law though.

Link: http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail...83&SubjectId=2

The Government today announced plans to support economic growth by modernising UK intellectual property laws. Ministers have accepted the recommendations made in an independent review which estimate a potential benefit to the UK economy of up to £7.9 billion.

[...]

Among the recommendations that have been accepted are:

• The UK should have a Digital Copyright Exchange; a digital market place where licences in copyright content can be readily bought and sold. The review predicted that a Digital Copyright Exchange could add up as much as £2 billion a year to the UK economy by 2020. A feasibility study will now begin to establish how such an exchange will look and work. The Government will announce arrangements for how this work will be driven forward later in the year.
  
  
• Copyright exceptions covering limited private copying should be introduced to realise growth opportunities. Thousands of people copy legitimately purchased content, such as a CD to a computer or portable device such as an IPod, assuming it is legal. This move will bring copyright law into line with the real world, and with consumers’ reasonable expectations.
  
  
• Copyright exceptions to allow parody should also be introduced to benefit UK production companies and make it legal for performing artists, such as comedians, to parody someone else’s work without seeking permission from the copyright holder. It would enable UK production companies to create programmes that could play to their creative strengths, and create a range of content for broadcasters.
  
  
• The introduction of an exception to copyright for search and analysis techniques known as ‘text and data mining’. Currently research scientists such as medical researchers are being hampered from working on data because it is illegal under copyright law to do this without permission of copyright owners. The Wellcome Trust has said that 87 per cent of the material housed in the UK’s main medical research database is unavailable for legal text and data mining, that is despite the fact that the technology exists to carry out this analytical work.
  
  
• Establishing licensing and clearance procedures for orphan works (material with unknown copyright owners). This would open up a range of works that are currently locked away in libraries and museums and unavailable for consumer or research purposes.
  
  
• That evidence should drive future policy – The Government has strengthened the Intellectual Property Office’s economics team and has begun a programme of research to highlight growth opportunities. One report has already shown that investments made by businesses in products and services that are protected by intellectual property rights (IPRs) are worth £65 billion a year.

[ZeroHour]

One thing though, does it allow us to bi-pass drm on the media for that purpose? if not then any protected media (such as dvd) would still be illegal I think according to this: Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They may just say the literal dvd drm is exempt but not sure.

[AyatollahPies]

One thing though, does it allow us to bi-pass drm on the media for that purpose? if not then any protected media (such as dvd) would still be illegal I think according to this: Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They may just say the literal dvd drm is exempt but not sure.

Does beg the question why software like this is legally available for sale. SlySoft AnyDVD | any dvd, region free, dvd copy, copy dvd movies, dvd decoder, dvd ripper, macrovision, dvd copying software

What on earth do they think people use it for?

[mac_shinobi]

Does beg the question why software like this is legally available for sale. SlySoft AnyDVD | any dvd, region free, dvd copy, copy dvd movies, dvd decoder, dvd ripper, macrovision, dvd copying software

What on earth do they think people use it for?

with regards to format shifting as per above just as an example ( I appreicate that in order to play it back or format shift a dvd the only way you can do that is to break the css in some way shape or form which is the illegal part ) but as per making it legal for personal use ( not schools or otherwise ) does that mean you are or are not allowed to take a none region 2 dvd ie region 1 for arguements sake , rip it ( format shift it ) so that you can still play / watch said movie in an electronic format ie mkv or whichever format the user wants it in seeing as said user paid for the dvd and presumably one license to watch the movie or content on said disc.

This is going on the basis that I am as a user breaking the content protection system ( CSS or deCSS or whatever encryption system ) for personal use not to sell or make money or anything that said user will profit from in anyway shape or form aside from obviously being able to play back said disc

just throwing this out there as a question not a statement or anything like that.

[Arthur]

One thing though, does it allow us to bypass DRM on the media for that purpose?

I did wonder this myself. I hope it doesn't end up like the DMCA in the US, where ripping a DVD to make a backup copy is legal, but circumventing the copy protection (CSS, ARccOS etc.) isn't.

Does beg the question why software like this is legally available for sale.

Being based in Antigua helps.

Software company SlySoft is based in Antigua, allowing it to avoid nations with laws that are tough on anti-circumvention of technological copyright measures, in particular the DMCA in the United States. (Source)