The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a "private right to copy".
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 29 Oct 2006 17:50 GMT
UK copyright law should be changed to include a ‘private right to copy’
that protects users of ipod and other MP3 players, according to a new
report published today (Sunday) by the Institute for Public Policy
Research (ippr). The UK’s current copyright laws mean that millions of
Brits break the law each year when they copy their CDs onto their
computers.
ippr says that the forthcoming review of Intellectual Property,
set up by Chancellor Gordon Brown and chaired by Andrew Gowers, should
update the 300-year-old copyright laws to take account of the changes
in the way people want to listen to music, watch films and read books.
ippr recommends a legal ‘private right to copy’ that would allow
people to make copies of CDs, or DVDs for personal us. The report says
a new right would legalise the actions of millions of Britons without
any significant harm to the copyright holders.
The report, Public Innovation: Intellectual property in a digital age, also recommends that:
The Government should reject calls from the UK music industry to
extend copyright term for sound recordings beyond the current 50 years.
The report argues that there is no evidence to suggest that current
protections provided in law are insufficient.
The Government should act to ensure that Digital Rights Management
(DRM) technology does not continue to affect the preservation of
electronic content by libraries. The British Library should be given a
DRM-free copy of any new digital work and libraries should be able to
take more than one copy of digital work. It also recommends that
circumvention of DRM technology should stop being illegal once
copyright has expired.
