Incredible that it& #39;s only within past few years that UK archives were allowed to make copies of material in their own collections just to preserve them. Think of all the works - recordings, films, photos, books, etc - that must have been lost because archivists followed the law!

Problem with UK copyright is that it& #39;s so inflexible. Every change seems to happen at least a decade after it became urgent. Not that it hasn& #39;t in some cases been moving in right direction (in other cases drastically for worse, at expense of the public).

Yet the much more flexible US system also has major problems. I fear having "fair use" exemptions determined by judges, whilst they allow companies to act first and see if they succeeded later, would make for a lot more ridiculous litigiousness, and more uncertainty.

Ideal would be to have a system with rigid and clear rules, like the UK often provides, but with those rules changing much more quickly to reflect social norms and technological developments. e.g. It& #39;s ridiculous the UK still doesn& #39;t allow you to copy ur CD music to ur iPod!