UK High Court Makes It Illegal To Copy Your Own Music Again

Music and movie fans in the UK were happy when a law was passed in the UK last October that allowed them to make legal copies of CDs and DVDs that they had purchased in an effort to convert them to digital media for use on the go. The UK High Court has now come back and said that it is illegal again to make copies of legally owned movies and music.

The about face came after the Basca, which is a musicians union, and industry reps from the UK challenged the law. One mystery with the overturning of the law for now is how exactly the law will be enforced. The law passed in October of last year that the new ruling overturns was called the Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 2014.

The ruling affects CDs, MP3s, DVDs, Blu-ray, and e-books. With that law overturned, it is now illegal for consumers to copy a CD and use one version of it at home and one in the car. Even under the provisions made legal last year, it was still illegal to share copies with friends and to sell the music or data online.

A High Court judge ruled this month that the government was wrong when it declined to introduce a compensation scheme for songwriters, musicians, and other rights holders that faced a loss by making copying of the CDs and other materials legal. The new law could affect teachers using content for interactive smart boards in the classroom and writers quoting material from other sources. The music industry argued that the regulations passes last year would result in a loss of £58 million per year for the music industry.

SOURCE: BBC