Dealing a setback to reform in copyright laws in the digital age, the UK government withdrew its 2014 private copying exception legislation and has once again made the creating of personal copies of already owned music illegal.
The private copying exception made creating copies of music, by ripping and burning CDs and DVDs, or format shifting, for private consumption, legal.
However the High Court judge in 2014, who presided over the judicial review of the legislation called on by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, the Musicians' Union, and UK Music, was reported by Ars Technica as saying that the private copying exception was "flawed" because "the evidence relied upon to justify the conclusion about harm was inadequate/manifestly inadequate."
The court had given the British government time to gather evidence supporting its claim that no loss would be incurred by the copyright holder for the legislation to be put into action.
However, the British government, instead of gathering evidence, has withdrawn the legislation completely, making it illegal to copy music again.
However it is unlikely that they would buy a digital copy of the music they already have in a CD or DVD, says Ars Technica. The move has alienated customers from the industry.
