New UK copyright laws give researchers right to ‘data mine’

According to legal news and guidance provider Out-Law, copying content from online journals and other texts is no longer an infringement of UK copyright laws, provided the research is for non-commercial purposes, users have lawful access to the content and that they make a “sufficient acknowledgement” of the original work.

This new exception for copyright, relating to text or data mining for non-commercial research, is one of a number of changes to UK copyright laws, which came into force on June 1.

“These common sense reforms will update the UK’s copyright system for the digital age, and help to build and maintain public confidence and respect for copyright,” Intellectual property minister Lord Younger said in a statement. “These changes bring an end to many instances where people carrying out minor, reasonable acts of copying could have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.

“The text and data mining exception is a particularly important step forward for researchers in the UK and will ensure they have the tools that they need to maintain their competitive edge in an increasingly global marketplace.”