Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003
| Statutory Instrument | |
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| Citation | 2003/2498 |
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| Dates | |
| Made | 27 September 2003 |
| Laid before Parliament | 3 October 2003 |
| Commencement | 31 October 2003 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 |
| Made under | European Communities Act 1972, s. 2(2) |
| Transposes | Directive 2001/29/EC |
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Status: Current legislation
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| Text of the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk | |
The Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003 transpose Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, often known as the EU copyright directive, into United Kingdom law. As such, its main effects are to modify the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 c. 48 ("the 1988 Act") with minor consequential modifications to other Acts and secondary legislation.
The regulations modify the concept of broadcast and broadcasting to take account of development in the internet; restrict the acts which are permitted without infringing copyright (in particular acts which could be performed commercially); and provide new measures for the protection and enforcement of copyright and performers' rights.
Only two EU Member States met the 22 December 2002 deadline for implement, the UK implemented the directive in 2003 but in November 2004 was convicted for non-implementation of the directive in the territory of Gibraltar.
Regulation 4 provides a new definition of "broadcast" in section 6 of the 1988 Act as
Internet transmissions are excepted from the definition of a broadcast unless they are transmitted simultaneously with a broadcast by other means, simultaneously with a live event or form part of a service in which programmes are transmitted at specific times determined solely by the person providing the service.
The new definition covers the old definitions of broadcast and of "cable programme" (s. 7 of the 1988 Act). However the separate definition of cable programme is kept as there is a distinction in the dates at which copyright becomes available: 1995-01-01 for cable programmes as opposed to 1956-06-01 for broadcasts under the previous definition.
The previous "infringement by broadcasting or inclusion in a cable programme" (s. 20 of the 1988 Act) is replaced by a new "infringement by communication to the public" (reg. 6). This includes both broadcasting (under the new definition) and making a work available to the public by electronic transmission. A performer's rights are also infringed if his performance is made available to the public without his consent (reg; 7; new s. 182CA of the 1988 Act).
Neither copyright (except in a computer program or a database) nor performer's rights are infringed by the simple act of transmitting the work between third parties over a network, even if the process of transmission involves making temporary copies (reg. 8)
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