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Client welcomes Hargreaves Report | 13 September 2011

Martin Brennan, creator of the BRENNAN JB7TM Music System, is no stranger to the intricacies of UK copyright law. The JB7 TM can hold somebody’s entire CD collection on a hard disc to give instant access to any track.

In 2006, the British Phonographic Institute said to a parliamentary select committee that it wanted to “make it unequivocally clear to the consumer that if they copy their CDs for their own private use in order to move the music from format to format we will not pursue them”. This is currently not consistent with the letter of UK copyright law under which it is unlawful to copy CDs without the permission of the copyright holder. Thus, arguably, millions of people routinely break the law when they load their own CDs onto their computers and Ipods®.

In November 2010, the Prime Minister commissioned a report by Professor Ian Hargreaves into the state of the intellectual property framework in the UK, leading to the issue of the Hargreaves Report in May 2011. The Hargreaves Report includes a review of copyright law in which he refers to Martin Brennan’s situation in support of the recommendation that the law needs changing. The government has subsequently announced that it accepts this recommendation and that the law will be changed.

We are proud to be helping Martin, as copyright attorney, to protect his rights, and wish to congratulate him on his contribution to the debate which now looks set to lead to the removal of this gap between statute and reality. See the Brennan website (www.brennan.co.uk) for more information.