SOURCE: IPO & GOV.UK
New measures that will modernise the intellectual property (IP) framework will come into force on 1 October 2014, modernising copyright law and helping designers and patent holders protect their valuable IP.
This includes changes which will allow people greater freedom to enjoy content they have bought and from 1 October 2014 allow them to make personal copies strictly for their own private use. Prior to this change, it was illegal to copy music from a CD to an MP3 player.
Other key intellectual property reforms that will come into force on 1 October 2014 include:
- the Intellectual Property Act 2014. The act will help simplify and strengthen protection for the UK designs industry, worth more than £15 billion to the UK economy, and help improve the efficiency of the IP rights system
- the creation of a criminal offence for intentional copying of a registered design
- providing new protections for pre-publication research to ensure the UK’s universities and the research sector remains a world-leader
- webmarking to display your patent rights, allowing a company to put a web address rather than more detailed information about the patent status of a product
- the expansion of the patent opinions service, providing quick and affordable opinions on a wider range of patent disputes
- the promotion of international ‘patent work sharing’ to cut backlogs.
NOTE: The above text has been extracted from the full article found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-reform-of-intellectual-property-comes-into-force