U.K. to relax copyright laws

LONDON -- The U.K. government has announced a package of measures intended to liberalize Britain's copyright laws. They include rejecting plans to block websites that host copyright infringing material, which follow a review by local communications regulator Ofcom. Website blocking was one of the items contained in last year's Digital Economy Act legislation rushed through by the previous Labour administration. But the coalition government's business secretary, Vince Cable, said Wednesday that the law was too cumbersome and unworkable. However, he added that plans to close sites that offer pirated fare remain in the pipeline. Rights holders can still use the British courts as was evident last week when the Motion Picture Assn. won an injunction requiring British Telecom to block access to pirate film website Newzbin2. Cable, responding to May's report by Ian Hargreaves on U.K. copyright law, also confirmed that rules preventing people from making copies of CDs and DVDs for personal use, known as "format shifting," were being dropped. Although widely ignored, it is illegal in Blighty to copy the contents of a CD or DVD they own onto an iPod or other digital player. Cable said: "This brings the law into line with, frankly, common sense. A lot of this has to do with consumer freedom. We need to have a legal framework that supports consumer use rather than treat it as regrettable. We can't say that businesses should embrace technology but say to consumers they can't use technology for products they have paid for." However, making copies and sharing them online remains illegal. Intellectual property laws involving parody, which are tougher in the U.K. than in the U.S., will also be relaxed to allow comedians, broadcasters and other content creators more creative freedom. This would ensure that spoofs such as YouTube hit "Newport State of Mind" remain available to users. Responding to the moves, Chris Marcich, the MPA's prexy and m.d. for Europe, Asia and the Middle East, said while the org welcomed "assurances regarding better enforcement at home and abroad," it remained "concerned about a number of recommendations that could have a negative impact on the film industry, including format shifting for film." Hargreaves' original report argued that the U.K.'s intellectual property laws were archaic and were a barrier to innovation and economic growth in an online age. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com