pimg src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45293000/jpg/_45293832_ipod_bbc_226.jpg" align="left" width="226" height="170" alt="iPod (BBC)" border="0" vspace="4" hspace="4"/pp class="first"b UK copyright laws quot;needlessly criminalisequot; music fans and need to be updated, a consumer watchdog says./bp UK laws that make it a copyright violation to copy a CD that you own onto a computer or iPod should be changed, says Consumer Focus. /pp The call came after global umbrella group Consumers International put the UK in last place in a survey of 16 countries' copyright laws. /pp Consumer Focus said the UK had to catch up with the rest of the world. /pp quot;UK copyright law is the oldest, but also the most out of date,quot; said Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus. /pp quot;The current system puts unrealistic limits on our listening and viewing habits and is rapidly losing credibility among consumers. A broad 'fair use' exception would bring us in line with consumer expectations, technology and the rest of the world.quot; /pp b Violation/b/pp The survey by Consumers International looked at intellectual property laws and enforcement practices in 16 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, the UK and the US. /pp It decided that UK law was least effective in balancing the interests of rights holders against those of consumers. /pp quot;It is currently a copyright violation [in the UK] to rip a CD that you own on to your PC or iPod,quot; said Consumer Focus, quot;even though over half (55%) of British consumers admit to doing it and three in five (59%) think this type of copying is perfectly legal.quot; /pp The watchdog's call was backed by digital rights campaign body the Open Rights Group, which called for a quot;more flexiblequot; approach to copyright. /pp Open Rights group executive director Jim Killock said: quot;It is ridiculous to ban copying, sampling and parody without payment, yet that is how the law stands today. /pp quot;The government is undermining copyright's reputation by failing to give clear rights to users in a changed digital world, where we all rip, mix and burn. Copyright urgently needs reform, as this study shows.quot; /phrpThis article is from the a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk"BBC News website/a. #169; British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites./pdiv class="feedflare"
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