It’s now legal to copy in the UK, if you’re disabled

In a surprising change to copyright law in the UK, it's actually now legal for anyone with a disability to copy a CD, DVD, or MP3 file that they've purchased, as long as they have no intention of exploiting the copying for the purpose of commercial ventures.

This news comes amidst a bunch of changes to the UK's copyright system, which also made it possible for schools, museums, libraries and archives to copy certain items and mediums in order to educate and preserve them, making it much easier to maintain important collections in the coming years and it gives them much deeper resources to work with for the purpose of teaching.

As progressive as these sorts of legislation changes are for a government that's shown a real willingness to pander to copyright lobby groups, these changes are only a preamble to it making it legal for all citizens to take part in private copyright – something that has been illegal for a long time – though that rule change hasn't quite been enacted yet. For now though, if you're disabled, you can copy all you like.

The idea is that those with specific physical limitations, will be able to watch a movie, read a book or listen to music on a device that makes it easier for them to do so, regardless of where or how they bought the media in question.

However the Intellectual Property Office IPO has made it clear, that it's still illegal to share these backed up files, or give other people access to them. So now it's completely legal to rip your own DVD or CD collection, or backup files to an online cloud; just don't share the link.

It's expected that this move could generate several tens of millions of pounds in the tech sector, as people pay for tools or storage to facilitate their copying. The IPO is said to have heavily researched the impact this move will have on the copyright holders and found the impact to be minimal.

For a run down of all the changes being made to copyright law in the UK, have a look here.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It seems like these changes are heading in the right direction. It could even give those sued by movie studios some measure of defence for their actions.

[Thanks TorrentFreak]

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