GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us that Britain has passed legislation on Friday to implement the controversial European Copyright Directive and this is due to take effect from 31st of October. It was not long ago that Germany had implemented it and we have seen the consequences already as a result of this law. This law gives new protections to DRM and anti-copy technologies, for example it would be an offence to distribute DVD decrypting tools in the UK under this law. Apparently, this law also makes it offence in theory to use peer-to-peer services such as KaZaA. This law was originally intended to be introduced last December 22nd, but has been repeatedly delayed until now due to some issues.
Unlike the US, Britain's current laws actually make it a copyright infringement to copy a CD whether it is for personal backup or to an MP3 player/tape for personal playback in a vehicle. This same thing applies even in some European countries also. Unlike the RIAA in the US, the British music industry has not punished any individual file sharers under the existing law so far. Once this European Copyright Directive takes hold, copyright infringement will be subject to a penalty of a fine, up to two years imprisonment or both. While this law would be more targeted at commercial activities than private individuals, it still may give a rethink of individual file-sharing to the British music industry.
It may not be the intention of the Government, nor of its Copyright Directorate, the Patent Office department responsible for drawing up the implementing regulations; but that does not change the fact that this will be written into our laws. The Directive was due to be implemented in the UK by 22nd December last year but has been repeatedly delayed. The Copyright Directorate blamed the delay on the complexity of the changes. For the companies behind the P2P services, the new regime gives no cause for panic, says Struan Robertson, editor of OUT-LAW.COM, the IT and e-commerce service of international law firm Masons. "The law on the provision of P2P services was ambiguous before and it remains ambiguous," he said. "But those using the services in this country are facing a new threat." In the US, the RIAA has sued numerous individuals in high profile civil actions based on copyright infringement. In this country, the British music industry has long had the legislative powers to do the same '“ but has not shown the inclination to sue individuals acting for non-commercial purposes. "Under Britain's existing legislation," explains Robertson, "it infringes copyright to convert a song from a CD into MP3 format, or even just to copy a CD to cassette to play in your car. There is a widespread misconception that this is legal in the UK. It's not. It is legal in many other countries '“ the US, France and Germany, for example. But Britain has long resisted giving individuals a 'private use' exception in its copyright laws." So the British music industry could sue those who make and swap MP3 files using services like KaZaA. But the British Phonographic Industry has to date taken a more understanding approach than its US counterpart, having taken into account the paucity of legitimate music download services to date. But from 31st October, the new regime introduces a new threat for P2P fans: prison. "There's no suggestion that this is what the new law is intended to catch, and it's not something that the European Directive demands; but the wording could be interpreted this way," says Robertson. 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." |
It does appear like going to the extreme to put someone behind bars for running KaZaA, but once the new law becomes active there is always a possibility. Unfortunately like in Germany, it will become an offence to distribute tools that get around copy-protection schemes on optical discs and other media and this will likely affect websites such as Afterdawn that already do this. It is not clear if the law would also make it an offence to discuss bypassing copy-protection systems, such as what Germany had added to their version of the ECD legislation.
The new Regulations are available here
Source: The Register
