The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 implement the Copyright Directive by making amendments to the UK's current cornerstone of copyright law, the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.
Following the Directive's timetable, the changes should have been made by 22nd December 2002. It is piquant to note that it is instead being implemented on the day that is the EU's implementation deadline for another Directive – on privacy and electronic communications. The laws implementing that Directive will not come into force in the UK until 11th December.
Under today's changes, rightholders can take action against those individuals who circumvent what the law calls Technological Protection Measures, or TPMs to make unauthorised use of copyrighted works. Action, including criminal action, can also be taken against those who make and distribute equipment designed to circumvent TPMs.
These provisions attracted controversy, not least because they reflect America's much-criticised Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. Critics argue that the protection of TPMs may result in anti-competitive practices and stifle legitimate research.
Digital rights management is also protected under the Regulations. Technology is available to allow rightholders to place unique codes within their work, so that once sold or transferred, any breach of copyright can be traced back to the original owner.
With the coming into force of the new rules, the original purchaser, or anyone who "knowingly and without authority removes or alters electronic rights management information" can now be taken to court by the copyright holder.
Critics are unhappy about this protection too, arguing that it is a breach of privacy as it gives rightsholders, who are usually large commercial organisations, too much information about users.
The use of P2P services like KaZaA may also be affected by the new rules. It is a common perception in the UK that it is lawful to copy a CD to cassette, or to convert a song from CD into MP3 format. In fact, these actions are in breach of copyright, and, at least in theory, give grounds for civil action.
But it is possible that the new law raises the stakes: using a service like KaZaA, Morpheus or Grokster to make a collection of MP3s available to others could be a criminal offence.
The relevant provision states:
"A person who infringes copyright in a work by communicating the work to the public -
(a) in the course of a business, or
(b) otherwise than in the course of a business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright,
commits an offence if he knows or has reason to believe that, by doing so, he is infringing copyright in that work."
The Copyright Directorate, the body behind the drafting of the Regulations, has said that it would be for the courts to interpret the point, but that it did not intend for individuals' non-commercial activities to be criminalised.
Nevertheless, the provision stands, and may be used as some point in the future to tackle the problem of illegal swapping of copyrighted files.
There are other elements in the new Regulations. They create an exception to the restriction on reproducing a copyrighted work for the purpose of allowing the works to be transmitted over the internet. This is a narrow exception, but provides comfort to intermediaries like ISPs.
Another exception to the rule on reproducing copyrighted work has always been that of fair dealing for research and private study. The Regulations now restrict this to non-commercial purposes only.