As it stands, the law states that it is illegal to make copies of copyright content, even in the home, without the permission of the rightsholders. This is at odds with the prevalence of personal computers, MP3 players and smartphones, which many consumers use to store and play back their music.
From October, the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies for Private Use) Regulations 2014 will grant consumers the legal right to copy CDs and DVDs on to personal computers, mobile devices and internet based cloud locker services.
While the music industry, including PRS for Music, has welcomed the government’s attempts to modernise the law to allow consumers to make reasonable use of their legally bought music, it opposes the way in which this is being done for two reasons.
Firstly, the European Copyright Directive states that where a private copying exception is introduced, the law must also provide fair compensation to rightsholders, which the proposed legislation does not.
Secondly, the government is not, in the view of the music industry, making it sufficiently clear to consumers what they may and may not do legally with copies made to cloud locker services.
These services allow people to store their personal files on servers ‘in the cloud’, but they also generally allow such files to be shared with others. There are fears, therefore, that extending the private copying exception into this area could cause confusion among consumers as to which cloud services and types of copies are legal and which are not.
Robert Ashcroft, PRS for Music’s chief executive, said: ‘While we understand and support the government’s aims, this is a bad piece of legislation for users, consumers and rightsholders alike. This is why we are engaged with others in the music industry, via UK Music, in challenging it, potentially in the courts if necessary’.
For more information on the new exemptions, please visit http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-copyright-techreview
From October, the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies for Private Use) Regulations 2014 will grant consumers the legal right to copy CDs and DVDs on to personal computers, mobile devices and internet based cloud locker services.
While the music industry, including PRS for Music, has welcomed the government’s attempts to modernise the law to allow consumers to make reasonable use of their legally bought music, it opposes the way in which this is being done for two reasons.
Firstly, the European Copyright Directive states that where a private copying exception is introduced, the law must also provide fair compensation to rightsholders, which the proposed legislation does not.
Secondly, the government is not, in the view of the music industry, making it sufficiently clear to consumers what they may and may not do legally with copies made to cloud locker services.
These services allow people to store their personal files on servers ‘in the cloud’, but they also generally allow such files to be shared with others. There are fears, therefore, that extending the private copying exception into this area could cause confusion among consumers as to which cloud services and types of copies are legal and which are not.
Robert Ashcroft, PRS for Music’s chief executive, said: ‘While we understand and support the government’s aims, this is a bad piece of legislation for users, consumers and rightsholders alike. This is why we are engaged with others in the music industry, via UK Music, in challenging it, potentially in the courts if necessary’.
For more information on the new exemptions, please visit http://www.ipo.gov.uk/hargreaves-copyright-techreview
