The Government has reminded end users that the legalisation of ripping content from CDs and DVDs does not grant them rights to copy media from on-demand streaming services, such as Spotify and Netflix.
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has outlined plans to bring the UK's copyright laws up to date, which will see the act of ripping content from CDs and DVDs made legal from June 2014.
If you wish to give away or sell a CD you should first delete any personal copies you have made of it.
Under the current legislation, it is illegal for individuals to copy content from CDs or DVDs they have bought onto MP3 players or computers.
The IPO wants to legalise the process, provided the person copying the CD or DVD owns the media and will only use it privately.
"The changes will means that you will be able to copy a book or film you have purchased for one device onto another without infringing copyright," states the IPO's Exceptions to copyright: Guidance for consumers report.
"However, it will still be illegal to make copies for friends or family, or to make a copy of something you do not own or have acquired illegally, without the copyright owner's permission.
"So you will not be able to make copies of CDs for your friends, to copy CDs borrowed from friends, or to copy videos illegally downloaded from file-sharing websites," the document continues.
The document also states that end users will be permitted to backup copies of CDs and DVDs, for example, to a personal online storage account, but they will be breaking the law if they allow third parties to access them.
Because the legislation applies only to copies of media the end user actually owns, users of media streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify will still be banned from copying songs, TV shows or movies from these services, the report reiterates.
Furthermore, if people choose to sell their CDs at a later date, they will be found in breach of copyright law if they retain any copies of them taken for personal use.
"If you wish to give away or sell a CD you should first delete any personal copies you have made of it," the IPO document advises.
The changes are set to be debated in the Houses of Parliament, but if approved are expected to come into force on 1 June 2014.
"The Government has consulted extensively on these changes and on the draft legislation, and listened carefully to the views of a wide range of stakeholders," the IPO said in a statement.
"As a result of this process, the legislation published today strikes an important balance between enabling reasonable use of copyright material in the modern age with minimal impact on copyright owners."
