The House of Lords has voted in favour of the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Quotation and Parody) regulations, which t will give people the right to alter copyrighted work for ‘caricature, parody and pastiche’.
Newly appointed Under-Secretary of State for Intellectual Property, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, has recently announced that UK copyright exemptions will allow private copying, quotation and parody.
The changes to copyright law, which come into effect on 1 October, will introduce greater freedoms in copyright law to allow third parties to use copyright works for a variety of economically and/or socially valuable purposes without the need to seek permission from copyright owners. However, protections for the interests of copyright owners and creators are built in to the proposed changes.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe explained that the regulations have been carefully and narrowly drafted to ensure that they give people greater freedom to use creative content, without undermining copyright’s important role in supporting UK creators and creative industries.
However, critics of the new legislation have pointed out that the word “parody” has not been defined, and say that the EU copyright directive says that compensation should be paid if a private copying exemption is introduced. For example, the French add a levy to the cost of MP3 players.
The minister disagreed, however, saying that fair compensation can mean no compensation, as long as the exception causes no, or minimal, harm, or if an appropriate payment has been received. She insisted that this is how the exception has been designed and it therefore falls within the margin of discretion that the directive allows.
She added that parody can be a useful tool for campaigners, for example, who are able to highlight questionable business practices by parodying a company’s brand or slogans, so she is delighted that this aspect of the law has been changed.