The British government will tomorrow, announce an agenda to legalize the copying of CD/DVD contents onto other devices such as computers for personal use. In reality, this would allow consumers to have duplicate copies of content and signal the end of Digital Rights Management technology on CDs and DVDs in the country. The change in law will not however, affect the common position that users are not to share content over the internet without prior permission from the copyright owner.
According to the report from Reuters, the practice of allowing the home user to copy the contents of a CD or DVD to another device has already been legalized across the majority of European countries, with only the UK, Ireland and Malta remaining. The news comes as a recent report was published which reviewed and recommended changes to the country"s intellectual property framework, which could add up to £8 billion to the economy.
There has been much discussion in the past few years, particularly in the UK, for what will become of copyright laws and what effect the internet and digital devices are having on consumer usage of content. Many have claimed that current laws in the country which go back 300 years in regards to copyright, hinder the industry"s growth and ability to innovate.
Image Source: copyencrypteddvd.com