Transferring music from a CD onto an Ipod will soon be legal due to new changes in Britain’s 300-year-old copyright laws.
??Business Secretary, Vince Cable, came out in support of a proposal that will allow consumers to copy CDs and DVDs onto MP3 players and share files between family members, practices that are already common among media users, without penalty.
??The series of ten new proposals is based off of the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property, which was backed by Prime Minister David Cameron in order to examine the UK's current copyright laws in a digital era.
??'We are determined to explore how exceptions to copyright can benefit the UK economy and support growth,” said Cable during a speech at the British Library today.
"Private copying is carried out by millions of people and many are astonished that it is illegal in this country. We need to bring copyright into line with people's expectations and update it for the modern digital world,” he said.
The new copyright laws could also boost the UK's economy by nearly £8 million, as new businesses are able to expand.
??Companies including Google could promote “cloud” computing for media users in the UK, which allows consumers to have access to files from any computer through virtual storage files.??
"By freeing up the intellectual property copyright system…we help consumers, we help business and we help the pursuit of knowledge,” said Cable. ??
The Business Secretary also showed support for the legal protection of Internet spoofs, including viral YouTube videos that parody popular hit songs.
In the past, videos such as “Newport State of Mind,” a spoof off of Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” had to be removed from the web due to copyright infringements.??
Cable said that allowing parodies had the “potential to boost the creative industries.” ?
