UK Proposes Copyright Changes, Invites Comments->
Submitted
by
JJC
JJC writes "Today the UK government's Intellectual Property Office has begun a consultation process about several proposed changes to UK copyright law.
The most interesting change from a Slashdotter's perspective is probably the creation of an exception to allow consumers to "format shift" content for use on different devices (nothing in current UK law allows consumers to copy audio CDs onto MP3 players, for example). The downside is that they do not propose for the exception to allow the circumvention of DRM (paragraph 114 of the consultation document [PDF]). If no circumvention of DRM is allowed then format shifting DVDs or "copy-protected" CDs will not be legal and copyright owners will be able to prevent any format shifting simply by applying some form of "technological protection" to the media.
The consultation runs until 8 April, and comments are accepted by e-mail."
Link to Original Source
The most interesting change from a Slashdotter's perspective is probably the creation of an exception to allow consumers to "format shift" content for use on different devices (nothing in current UK law allows consumers to copy audio CDs onto MP3 players, for example). The downside is that they do not propose for the exception to allow the circumvention of DRM (paragraph 114 of the consultation document [PDF]). If no circumvention of DRM is allowed then format shifting DVDs or "copy-protected" CDs will not be legal and copyright owners will be able to prevent any format shifting simply by applying some form of "technological protection" to the media.
The consultation runs until 8 April, and comments are accepted by e-mail."
Link to Original Source
