The UK government published today the final part of its response to the copyright consultation Modernising Copyright: a modern, robust and flexible framework that spells out a range of copyright exceptions, raising concerns amongst some in the industry.

"In what looks like a cowardly act, the government has slipped out an announcement on copyright exceptions today, when Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, could have done it in person in his statement delivered to industry on Monday. Perhaps they didn't want to deal with our reactions face to face!" an industry executive closely involved in the consultation told DVD Intelligence.

As per the Ministerial Statement just released, "the Government is committed to achieving strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is shared across the country and between industries. Following the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth, and an extensive consultation process, the Government believes that the copyright framework can be improved to make the UK a better place for consumers and for firms to innovate, in markets which are vital for future growth, without harming the UK's valuable creative industries."

The government says it has considered the responses to the consultation carefully, alongside the views of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee and others. It intends to make changes to widen existing or introduce new exceptions in the following areas:

Private copying
- People will be permitted to copy content they have bought onto any medium or device that they own, strictly for their own personal use (such as transferring their music collection from CD to iPod).
- This will not allow sharing copies with others but it will allow consumers to copy material to and from private online cloud storage.
- Rights owners will still have the ability and incentive to license innovative, value-added cloud services.

Education
- The Government welcomes Richard Hooper's recommendation that rights holders should simplify copyright licensing for the education sector. Government will provide a fair basis for future licensing by modernising the current educational exceptions.
- Changes will make it easier to use interactive whiteboards and similar technology in classrooms, provide access to copyright works over secure networks to support the growing demand for distance learning, and allow use of all media in teaching and education.
- Only limited use of works will be allowed without a licence, so educational institutions will continue to require licences for general reprographic copying - for example copying significant extracts from text books to hand out to students.
- However, minor acts of copying for the purpose of teaching which cause little harm to rights holders, such as copying an extract of text to display on an interactive whiteboard, will be permitted without a licence as long as they are fair.

Quotation and news reporting
- The Government will create a more general permission for quotation of copyright works for any purpose, as long as the use of a particular quotation is 'fair dealing' and its source is acknowledged.
- Minor uses of copyright materials, such as references and citations in academic papers, quotation as part of educational activities and short quotations on internet blogs or in tweets, will therefore be permitted as long as they are fair.
- Photographs will continue to be excluded from news reporting provisions, as they are at present.

Parody, caricature and pastiche
- The Government will legislate to allow limited copying on a fair dealing basis for parody, caricature and pastiche.
- Existing protection for moral rights, including the right to object to derogatory treatment, will be maintained.

Research and private study
- The Government will allow sound recordings, films and broadcasts to be copied for non-commercial research and private study purposes, without permission from the copyright holder. This includes both user copying and library copying.
- This change, which expands an existing exception which covers, literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works is limited to fair dealing and in the case of research th e usage must be accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
- Educational institutions, libraries, archives and museums will also be permitted to offer access to the same types of copyright works on their premises by electronic means at dedicated terminals.

Data analytics for non-commercial research
- Non-commercial researchers will be allowed to use computers to study published research results and other data without copyright law interfering.
- Where researchers have lawful access to copyright works, for example through a subscription to a scientific journal or having copies of papers published under a Creative Commons licence, they will be allowed to make copies of those works to the extent necessary for their computer analysis.
- Researchers will in many cases have to negotiate access to those works with copyright holders, for example through licensing. This approach is compatible with the approach to Open Access publishing set out by the Finch Review, allowing publishers to control access to their computer systems and get paid for the services they provide.
- This is an emerging field and the Government is prepared to facilitate discussions between publishers and researchers, both commercial and non-commercial.

Access for people with disabilities
- Government will allow people with disabilities the right to obtain copyright works in an accessible form, if there is not a suitable one on the market already.
- This will apply to all types of disability that prevent someone from accessing a copyright work, and to all types of copyright work.

Archiving and preservation
- Museums, galleries, libraries and archives will be allowed to preserve any type of copyright work that is in their permanent collection and cannot readily be replaced.

Public administration
- The existing exceptions will be widened to enable more public bodies to proactively share some third party information online, as they already can through issuing paper copies.
- The changes will only apply to works that are unpublished, or works that are already available to public inspection, and so will not compete with commercial use of works.
- The existing mechanism of complaint where a permitted act is restricted by technological protection measures will be maintained.

Copyright Notices
- The Government also intends to introduce a new, non-statutory system for clarifying areas where there is manifest confusion or misunderstanding on the scope and application of copyright law via Copyright Notices issued by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO). These notices are intended to clarify, but not make new law.

The government intends to make these changes via secondary legislation in autumn 2013. Prior to this, the Government will publish the draft regulations for technical review.

"Today's Government announcement on new copyright exceptions goes some way to answering our concerns about the original Hargreaves recommendations. The BVA is pleased that copy protection on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs is allowed and it is acknowledged that TPMs may not legally be overruled," commented Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association.

Story filed 20.12.12