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Changes to copyright exceptions

Changes to copyright exceptions approved by Parliament yesterday (29 July 2014).

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On the 17 July 2015 the exception was quashed by the decision in BASCA and others vs Secretary of State for BIS 2015 EWHC 2041.

These regulations will come into force on 1 October 2014 and introduce exceptions to copyright for:

Parody, caricature and pastiche

This exception will permit limited use of copyright material for the purpose of caricature, parody or pastiche without the permission of the copyright holder, but only to the extent that the use is fair and proportionate.

Quotation

Extending the existing exception for ‘criticism or review’ to cover all types of fair quotation, as long as there remains sufficient acknowledgement of the quotation.

This follows the exceptions for libraries, education, research, disabled people and public bodies which came into force on 1 June 2014.

The explanatory memorandum accompanying these instruments is intended to provide legislative context and policy background to help a general reader to understand the policy background and how the instruments will operate. These instruments will amend relevant sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The statutory instruments and explanatory memorandum will be available on the Legislation website website in due course.

Further guidance on exceptions to copyright is also available on GOV.UK.

Published 30 July 2014