Update 18.05.11
Business secretary Vince Cable is expected to give cabinet-level support to the proposals put forward in the Hargreaves report on intellectual property and copyright laws, due to be published today.
Professor Ian Hargreaves's report will call for a loosening and simplification of some aspects of copyright law, a view held by Cable who will say that the current system has failed to "keep pace" with the fast-moving digital economy.
In particular, Hargreaves recommends changing the law to make it legal to copy CDs and DVDs to other digital devices such as MP3 players and computers.
The business secretary is expected to say that "the consequence of the ban on format-shifting [copying discs on to a computer or MP3 player] is simply to make it harder for a British entrepreneur to compete with technology developed in the US and other countries where there's no such ban."
Published 17.05.11
We all do it ? rip (copy) music on our CDs to digital devices such as MP3 players, computers and tablets. Yet strictly speaking doing so is illegal under UK law.
Now the Hargreaves report on intellectual property has recommended changing the law to allow "format shifting" from one digital device to another.
This would leave industry and the Government free to focus on tackling bigger issues such as web piracy.
The report's author, Professor Ian Hargreaves, chair of digital economy at the Cardiff School of Journalism, also suggests the establishment of a new intermediary agency that will act as a swift one-stop shop for clearing the use of copyright content.
The idea of the IP clearing house, or digital exchange ? which would be run by rights holders representing sectors including the music, video game and film industries ? is to make the UK "the best place in the world to do business in digital content", says Hargreaves.
Music and movie ripping legal in US
Other countries have already amended their copyright laws to make ripping of discs legal for personal use ? most notably the US, where the Digital Millenium Copyright Act now has a 'fair use' clause that's enabled American consumers to make copies of CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays.
We'll keep you updated on how this story develops.
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Source: http://www.whathifi.com/news/report-urges-change-to-copyright-law-to-make-ripping-of-cds-legal
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