A suite of new and revised exceptions to copyright law will be coming into law in the UK in June and October 2014, but will they make copyright law “fit for purpose” in the digital age?
In our digital age copyright works such as quotations, images, and data are constantly re-appropriated by people far removed from the original owners. Use of other people’s copyright work conflicts with a principle at the heart of copyright law: it is an infringement of copyright to copy the whole or a substantial part of another’s copyright work without their permission.
Several new exceptions to copyright infringement are coming in to force this year. While most are focused on non-commercial use of copyright works, the exceptions have been heralded as a commercial boon for everyone from universities to the creative sectors. In an Intellectual Property Office press release the benefits of three exceptions were valued at, at least, £250 million over the next ten years.
The parts of the private sector most likely to be impacted are the creative, technology, and allied sectors (such as music, marketing and advertising). For these industries, the shake up of use of copyright work for the purposes of quotations and parody will liberalise their use of third party material.
There have long been limited exceptions to copyright infringement to enable use of other people’s copyright work. However, in the UK the exceptions were primarily limited to number of “permitted uses” into which your use would need to fit in order to take advantage of the exceptions, for example, if you were writing a review of a book you were permitted to copy sections of that book for the purpose of your criticism and review. In the last 10 – 15 years these exceptions have become increasingly ill-fitting.
The exceptions are scheduled to come into force in two waves. The first wave hit the legislative shores on 1 June 2014. The second is due on 1 October 2014. Research, Public Administration, and Disability Exceptions – 1 June 2014
These exceptions are characterised by their focus on widening existing purpose/situational exceptions. They are focused on non-commercial use but may still boost the UK economy.
Private Use, Parody and Quotation Exceptions – 1 October 2014
These exceptions, currently scheduled for 1 October 2014, are expected to make a bigger impact. They are exceptions for:
Until 8 May 2014 these exceptions were expected to come into force on 1 June 2014. However, they were held back to enable the legislative committee to have more time to consider the issues raised by them. The exceptions have now been re-published with a new date of 1 October 2014 with no other amendments.
The IPO have published a range of guides on the changes to the Copyright Laws, which are available to view and download here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-copyright-law
We will keep you updated on the progress of these remaining exceptions and feed back on how they are being implemented in due course.
And, if you were wondering about the title for this blog, it is taken from two quotes about copyright law:
“Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet . . . Whenever a copyright law is to be made or altered, then the idiots assemble.” Mark Twain (retrieved from here).
and
“Copyright law is totally out of date. It is a Gutenberg artifact. Since it is a reactive process, it will probably have to break down completely before it is corrected.” Nicholas Negroponte, Being Digital, 1995 (also from here).
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