“The British music industry is to recommend to the Government that consumers be allowed to legally copy music without fear of prosecution,” Andrew Murray-Watson reports for The Telegraph. “The BPI [British Phonographic Industry], the body that represents British record companies, believes copyright on CDs and records should be changed to allow consumers to copy music if it is for personal use. Currently, it is technically illegal for anyone to copy a CD onto their computer for the purposes of downloading music onto their own portable music player. In its submission to the Gowers Review – the independent review body set up by the Treasury to examine the UK’s intellectual property framework – the BPI has asked for the issue of this area of music copyright to be addressed.”
“It is believed the organisation, which represents the likes of EMI and Sanctuary, prefers the option of altering copyright protections on music without the requirement for a change in legislation… If Gowers endorses the BPI’s preferred solution to the issue of copying music, it will lead to one of the most significant changes in UK copyright law in decades,” Murray-Watson reports. “Some of the UK’s existing music copyright laws date back nearly 100 years, to the days when the gramophone was cutting-edge technology.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader Nik Fletcher for the heads up.]
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Well looky there, Apple’s still changing the world.
At last a whiff of common sense – getting rid of a law that is impossible to enforce.
i didnt know that, i thought it was legal and only illegal in the case of video :s lol come arrest me fascists!
I don’t download music to my iPod, I upload it via iTunes on my Mac.
Headline makes it sound like the BPI are being altruistic, when in fact they are pushing for locking down on users’ rights.
Misleading: Can you elaborate? I fail to see how changing the stupid law that makes ripping a CD for you iPod illegal “locks down users rights”. Seems like a common sense change for the better to me.
Misleading,
Where do you see that? It looks to me like they are being “realistically altruistic” in this – they realize it isn’t worth their time and effort to chase down folks who copy their CDs and such to their computers, and then to their iPods, so they are asking that part of the law be revised to a “fair use” standard. In reality, it’s No Big Deal! Sure, they’d like to lock down on thieves, and they ought to be able to do that. You aren’t saying people should be allowed to steal someone else’s work product, are you? Let’s not go there.
In other words, the UK music industry is finally realizing the practicality of the concept of “fair use,” which essentially holds that the software (song, video, etc.) is separate from the medium upon which it is stored; you OWN the medium, but you LICENSE the software, and the two are – or should be – legally separate. Let’s hope that the UK can do the right thing on this.
UK ROCKS, USA SUCKS!
Have that, Yanks!
They are trying to bypass iTMS and sell high priced CD’s to iPod users. They make a lot more money selling you that one must have tune via a high priced CD than just the tune you want via iTMS.
Tony the Tiger? Aren’t you American?
Tony — Shut your inbred brown chiclet-lined pie hole and get back to the business of being Bush’s bitch.
I am ENGLISH you cretins!
http://www.kelloggs.com/brand/ttt/flash.html
UK ROCKS! IT’S GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT!!!!
“The BPI [British Phonographic Industry], the body that represents British record companies, believes copyright on CDs and records should be changed to allow consumers to copy music if it is for personal use.”
Sweet! Hopefully the RIAA is listening.
Andy – while it has not been formally established that ripping CDs to iPods is illegal, the RIAA rhetoric has tried to keep that as a possibility. However, the broader idea is that once you download digital music, you should have the same fair use as with tapes or vinyl.
“UK ROCKS, USA SUCKS!
Have that, Yanks!”
Huh? Tony, you can already legally do this in the U.S. It’s Britain that is behind the times.
Tony the Tiger – you ARE American. your fact sheet says, you are from Michigan!
Funny how politics always end up on here and how the logorrhea left is always lobbing the Moltov cocktails into the crowd. I guess losing election after election does make you bitter, but please, there’s no reason to be rude and crude because of it! Sheehan in ’08, right guys? *ROTFL*
Are you still required to pay a licensing fee if you play a copyrighted tune when trying out a musical instrument in retail outlet?
Hopefully the RIAA is listening.
Why? It’s already considered fair use to copy music for personal use. The problem is the DMCA, which allows manufacturers and rights owners to block fair use through copy protection while making circumventing these protections in pursuit of fair use illegal.
Here in Oz it’s the same deal. We can’t copy music from legaly purchased CD’s onto our iPods. So we all walk around with empty 60gig iPods. We still look cool. But seriously, the CD walkman has been made obsolete by mp3 players. What else are we supposed to do.
I thought they were doing away with Tony the Tiger because selling sugar coated corn flakes to kids using a cartoon tiger was considered to be a poor portrayl of tigers, or creulty to kids or somat like that.
“Funny how politics always end up on here and how the logorrhea left is always lobbing the Moltov cocktails into the crowd. I guess losing election after election does make you bitter, but please, there’s no reason to be rude and crude because of it! Sheehan in ’08, right guys? *ROTFL*”
Except of course that this is an article about the UK, where the left have won the past three general elections.
How many times does this have to be said, the US does NOT equal the world. Why not look beyond your own borders occasionally?
Back on topic, this is nothing more than a PR exercise by the BPI. There isn’t a court in the UK that would convict someone of making backup copies of music they legitimately own for self-use, and the BPI knows it. Move along people. Nothing to see here.
Following on from Edgeley >
There isn’t a court in the UK that would convict someone of making backup copies of music they legitimately own for self-use, and the BPI knows it.
Not to mention the fact that you would face the bizarre scenario of a Crown Court judge sentencing a High Court judge (e.g. the judge who just ruled for Apple Computer in the Corps vs. Computer case) for breaking the Copyright Act. Or, even worse (or better, depending on your POV) sentencing half the House of Commons including the Prime Minister.
If you are willing to buy real estate, you would have to get the personal loans. Furthermore, my mother all the time utilizes a financial loan, which supposes to be really reliable.
The mp ringtones could make your cell very unique, therefore we woulld offer to order the sms ringtones at the ringtone site.
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