Copyright law in the UK has no 'private use' exception. That
means that, unlike consumers in France, Germany and many other
countries, British consumers have no right to copy their own CDs to
their computers. For years, the British music industry has turned a
blind eye to this ubiquitous form of copyright infringement.
When vinyl was copied to cassette there was a deterioration in
quality that convinced some in the industry that any impact on
sales of new music would be manageable. But the advent of digital
copying heightened concerns. Alive to these concerns, advocates of
a 'private use' right feared that lawsuits would be threatened
against consumers.
The BPI gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Select
Committee for Culture, Media & Sport yesterday as part of an
inquiry into New Media and the Creative Industries.
BPI Chairman Peter Jamieson was quizzed on the fact that
the “all rights reserved” nature of British copyright law means
that – without specific authorisation – any UK consumer who rips
CDs they have bought in order to fill an iPod or other MP3 player
is currently guilty of copyright infringement.
“Traditionally the recording industry has turned a blind eye to
private copying and has used the strength of the law to pursue
commercial pirates,” he said.
He continued: “We believe that we now need to make a clear and
public distinction between copying for your own use and copying for
dissemination to third parties and make it unequivocally clear to
the consumer that if they copy their CDs for their own private use
in order to move the music from format to format we will not pursue
them.”
“We will not sue you for filling your iPod with music you have
bought yourself," he said.
Struan Robertson, a Senior Associate with Pinsent Masons and
editor of OUT-LAW.COM, said the announcement could annoy some other
countries.
"Under the Copyright Directive, EU member states were given a
choice: either allow private copying and give 'fair compensation'
to rights holders or ban private copying," he said. "The UK decided
to maintain a ban on private copying."
He continued: "The announcement by Peter Jamieson is good news
for British consumers and it could help the industry by winning
consumer respect. But in countries that allow private copying there
is usually a levy on blank media to compensate artists and these
countries may wonder what form of 'fair compensation' the UK
intends to provide as a substitute."
