Following the publication of the Hargreaves review on copyright law, the Government has published proposals to modernise copyright law in order to bring it up to date in the light of modern technology.

It is considered that changes need to be made for the benefit of creative industries, in which the UK has a significant global presence.

The changes are expected to include the allowance of private copying, copying for data analytics purposes for non-commercial research and simplified rules relating to educational use of copyright material.

The Intellectual Property Office will be involved through the introduction of a system of ‘copyright notices’ and a simplified procedure for bringing complaints relating to breaches of copyright.

Secondary legislation to introduce the changes is scheduled to be introduced later this year.