English High Court orders judicial review of ‘ripping’ copyright change
The English High Court has ordered a judicial review of the UK government’s change to copyright law that made it legal for people to make copies of copyright protected material.
On Friday, June 19, the court ruled in favour of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), the Musicians’ Union, and UK Music after they challenged the change, rolled out in October last year by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS).
The change, one of several which required making tweaks to the country’s Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, meant the scrapping of a provision that had made it illegal for purchasers of CDs to transfer their music onto laptops and MP3 players, known as ‘ripping’.
But the organisations argued that, as the government failed to provide a compensation mechanism for right owners, the provision was out of step with EU law. All three bodies requested a judicial review in November last year.
In Friday’s judgment the high court agreed that the introduction of such a change in “the absence of a compensation mechanism is unlawful” and accepted the request.
The court will hold another hearing to decide what action should be taken and will also accept submissions from both parties before deciding whether the matter should be referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Judge Nicholas Green said that the government was not obliged under EU law to introduce the exceptions to copyright law but did have the “discretion” to bring them in as long as the harm to right owners was de minimis.
However, the government failed to provide evidence to the court showing that such a change would not incur costs to musicians, Green wrote.
Responding to the judgment, Vick Bain, chief executive of BASCA, said: “This is a win for all songwriters and composers in this country; the possibility of standing by and watching the implementation of an exception to copyright for private copying without a fair compensation scheme was unthinkable.
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