UK Government Releases Proposed Changes To Copyright Laws

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

11 January 2008

The UK government has launched a consultation on measures proposed in the wake of the Gowers review of the country's intellectual property regime.

Commenting on the launch of the consultation on Tuesday, the UK Intellectual Property Office announced that:

"In December 2006, Andrew Gowers reported his findings on the UK’s Intellectual Property regime. While he concluded that the system was broadly satisfactory he identified a number of areas where improvements could be made. These included modifying copyright rules to improve access to, and use of, copyright material for private individuals, students and libraries."

Under the proposals, upon which comment is invited until 8 April, copying music from CDs to computers and MP3 players, currently technically illegal, would become legal.

Intellectual Property Minister, Lord Triesman suggested, according to a BBC news report, that allowing such 'format-shifting' was important, in order to ensure that the law "keeps up with the times".

The move to clarify the situation for consumers in the UK has had a mixed reception, with some groups representing rights holders suggesting that legalising such copying between formats may represent the thin end of the wedge, and ultimately damage the interests of writers and musicians.

Measures improving the rights of educational establishments with regard to the use of copyrighted materials were also put forward for consultation.

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