Commentary on Sections Non-Print Publications Section 8: Activities in relation to non-print publications
20.This section inserts section 44A, a new exception to copyright, into Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 so that activities permitted by regulations made under section 7 will not infringe copyright. As non-print material may also or alternatively be protected by database right, this section additionally inserts a new exception to database right into the Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/3032) in respect of activities permitted by regulations made under section 7.
21.New section 44A also provides a power to make regulations under the 1988 Act to stop one or more of the exceptions to copyright in Chapter 3 of Part 1 of the Act applying, or restrict the way they apply, to non-print material covered by section 7. These regulations could be used to ensure that copyright exceptions apply no more generously to deposited material than to material that has been purchased, for example, copyright material published online which may only be available in normal libraries under a contract that removes the ability to enjoy some copyright exceptions, so that all readers must pay for any material they copy.