[A2k] Record industry lobbies to authorise private copying

[Michelle Childs]

Unlike most other EU member States the UK does not have a personal right
to copy ( nor does it have copyright levies). The issue has come to a head
as it is technically illegal to rip a cd to your ipod in the UK. Given
virtually everyone who owns an ipod does so, the law is in disrepute. The
recording industry trade body, recognise the present situation is
unsustainable, but  doesn't want a legal right to copy to be given to
users instead they want to 'authorise' such copying.  In that way they set
the terms. It is also a 'right' at their whim- it could be withdrawn at
any time.

 < snip> The UK's main recording industry body wants to authorise UK music
buyers to copy CDs for personal use. The British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) has recommended to a government investigation that a private right
to copy be created.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/10/bpi_to_legalise_cd_copying/

BPI lobbies Gowers for a 'private right to copy'
Rip your own CDs legally
By OUT-LAW.COM &#8594; Published Friday 10th November 2006 09:33 GMT



The UK's main recording industry body wants to authorise UK music buyers
to copy CDs for personal use. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has
recommended to a government investigation that a private right to copy be
created.

"We certainly agree with the line that something needs to be done,"
Richard Mollet, the BPI's director of public affairs told weekly
technology podcast OUT-LAW Radio.

Though the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has called for a
change in UK law to allow people to copy legally bought tracks on to MP3
players, the BPI says no law change would be necessary if it gave
permission for the activity.

"Whether one actually changes the law or not is actually a moot point
because it is possible to give consumers that permission simply through
authorisation from existing rights holders," said Mollet.

Mollet said the BPI had made its views known to the Gowers Review, a
Government-commissioned report on copyright law reform due to report its
findings this month. It is being conducted by former Financial Times
editor Andrew Gowers.

In the UK any copies of music on CDs or from downloads is illegal, which
means that people who put music on their MP3 players or computers are
breaking the law.

The BPI, which polices copyright theft on behalf of record labels, has
already announced that it will not prosecute people for copying music to
MP3 players. Mollet told OUT-LAW, though, that the BPI now wants to
directly authorise consumers to carry out the activity, and is likely to
put the authorisation directly on to CD packaging.

"My understanding of how this would work in practice is that one might
need to put something on product and that would be one of the potential
problems with going down the authorisation route," he said.

Mollet said that the BPI's stance is not "hard and fast", but that it
would be prepared to go down the authorisation route.

Kay Withers was the author of the IPPR's report recommending the
establishment of a private right to copy. She disagrees that BPI
authorisation would solve the problem. "It's good that the BPI have said
they're not going to prosecute but it should be the government deciding
what the consumers and citizens rights are, rather than citizens."

The IPPR's report said the fact that no private right to copy exists not
only puts many people on the wrong side of the law mostly without them
knowing it, but also undermines the public's respect for copyright law in
general, and makes serious infringement more likely.

Withers said it is also unfair to consumers. "What the law currently would
expect consumers to do just doesn't really seem fair," she said. "Asking
someone who buys a CD in HMV to then have to go to a digital music store
and buy that content again so that they can listen to it both on their
hi-fi and on their mp3 player just doesn't seem fair."

See: OUT-LAW Radio

Copyright =A9 2006, OUT-LAW.com




--
Michelle Childs -Head of European Affairs
Consumer Project on Technology in London
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