Has Uk Copyright Law Changed? :: Laurence Kaye

Health Warning:These FAQs are not intended to be exhaustive and do not constitute or substitute legal advice, which should be sought on a case by case basis. Please treat the answers as general information, not legal gospel. Please remember that the law is constantly changing, so the answers are subject to change in the light of new legislation or case law. These FAQs are based on English law.

Has UK copyright law changed?

UK copyright law has been evolving - perhaps "tweaking copyright law for the digital age" is the best way of putting it. The EU Copyright Directive changed UK copyright law in 2003. The following summary was written by Hugh Jones, Copyright Counsel, UK Publishers Association, International Association of STM Publishers.

Conclusion

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New exclusive right over communication to the public – copyright owners are given a new exclusive right of communication to the public (including access) via electronic transmission.

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New exception for temporary copying – Internet Service Providers and telecommunication companies are given a new exemption from copyright infringement for transient/incidental acts of reproduction which are integral and essential to the technological process and not themselves of any economic significance.

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Tighter Fair Dealing exceptions – Research (in Research and Private Study) must specifically be for a non –commercial purpose, and Fair Dealing continues to limit private study, and Criticism, Review and News Reporting.

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New "non-commercial" criteria for education and library copying – this applies now to copying for Instruction and Examination, for Reprographic copying by educational establishments, and for much library copying not expressly covered before. Publishers are already talking to librarians about suitable guidelines.

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Protection for Technical Protection Measures – circumvention of TPMs remains a copyright infringement, and also a criminal offence for those who import or manufacture infringing equipment. Exclusive licensees are given an equal right to take action. Where TPMs prevent lawful access, eg for Research and Private Study, a notice of complaint may be given where there is no voluntary measure or agreement already in place. It is hoped, however, that industry will find a way of arranging such lawful access.

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Protection for Digital Rights Management information - knowingly removing or altering DRM information without authority may, likewise, be both a civil infringent or a criminal offence.

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Specific Right of Injunction against Service Providers – The High court is specifically given the right to grant injunctions against Internet service Providers, where the ISP has actual knowledge of infringing material on the relevant site (particularly if the ISP has been given a Notice as envisaged by the E- Commerce Regulations). It is hoped that a voluntary industry Code of Practice will add to this soon with a self-regulatory scheme capable of dealing expeditiously with the majority of infringements outside the court system.

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The Statutory Instrument seems broadly to follow the lines set out in the Government’s Consultation Paper, and reflects the Government’s expressed desire to implement the Directive "narrowly". No new exceptions have been created, except the compulsory exception for temporary copying listed above (which every member state must now have), and the wording of many existing exceptions has been tightened up in accordance with "noncommercial" criteria. A new exception for Visually Impaired People was enacted last year and is likely to be brought into force at the same time as the S.I. Although the above summary is a brief initial survey only, the S.I seems on the whole to be an admirably copyright-friendly piece of legislation, like the Directive itself, and should do much to bring the UK into line with other leading copyright nations in the EU and beyond, in the internet age.