Compare and Contrast - Essay Example

Running Head: COPYRIGHT LAW: COMPARE AND CONTRAST Copyright Law: Compare and Contrast Article: UK Copyright Laws to be Reviewed, Announces Cameron In the BBC Mobile website, an article entitled UK Copyright Laws to be Reviewed, Announces Cameron appeared on 4 November 2010, which declared the UK government’s plans of reviewing its copyright laws to make them more responsive to the times. Prime Minister David Cameron stated that the move was being pursued particularly to make UK intellectual laws fit for the internet age.

Moreover, PM Cameron specifically mentioned the US copyright laws as a possible model for the UK copyright law, particularly the provision on fair-use that can be found in the former’s IP law. Facebook and Google, two of the IT big companies that have considered investing in the UK, admitted to the PM that it would have been difficult for them to have started their companies in the UK because of its stringent IP laws. Aside from the fair-use provision, UK is also considering eliminating some of the present provisions of its copyright laws that present an unfriendly barrier to internet-based businesses (BBC Mobile 2010).

The fair use doctrine that PM Cameron referred to is set out under ss. 107 to 118 of the US Copyright Law or Title 17 of the US Code. This doctrine presents an exception to the exclusive right of copyright owners to reproduce their respective work covered by the Copyright Law. These excepted circumstances usually cover activities such as “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research” (The Library of Congress). However, the US Copyright Law provides more room for infringement exceptions because unlike the UK law, it does not enumerate the circumstances under which the infringement is allowed, but rather provides a generally worded four-factor test for the courts to determine the infringement exceptions.

The four criteria are: the purpose and character of the use of the copyrighted material; the nature of the copyrighted work; the size of the work copied vis-a-vis the copyrighted work, and; the impact of the use of the copyrighted material on the market (The US Copyright Law) On the other hand, albeit the UK has an equivalent provision which allows exceptions to its infringement provisions, such provision is not worded as broadly as its counterpart. This provision is called the fair dealing provision and it permits copying of a copyrighted work, but only in nine specific circumstances: “private and research studies purposes; performance, copies or lending for educational purposes; criticism and news reporting; incidental inclusion; copies and lending by librarians; acts for the purposes of the Royal Commissions, statutory inquiries, judicial proceedings and parliamentary purposes; recording of broadcasts for a delayed viewing at a more convenient time; back-up copies for personal use of computer programs; playing sound recording for non-profit making organisation, club or society” (UK Copyright Law).

PM Cameron also mentioned removing unfriendly barriers such as the cost of getting permission from the holders and the “cost and complexity of enforcing intellectual property rights in the UK and the world.” The move was welcomed with enthusiasm especially by the internet freedom campaigners, who felt that the pending Digital Economy Act does not adequately meet present internet needs, such as basic internet user right of making copies of video and music for personal use or transferring one format to another.

In addition, parody under the UK copyright law is not exempted from infringement as was shown in the case of a YouTube parody of the song Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z, which was taken down after EMI Records pursued a copyright claim (BBC Mobile 2010). Under the US Copyright Law, parody is one of the cited activities regarded as within the fair-use ambit by the 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the US Copyright Law (The Library of Congress). References: BBC Mobile. (2010) UK Copyright Laws to be Reviewed, Announces Cameron.

News UK Politics, BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11695416. The Library of Congress. (2009) Fair Use, Copyright. http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html. US Copyright Law. UK Copyright Law.