Don’t copy that, again.

Last year the UK government introduced a law that made it legal to make back-ups of copyrighted materials such as CDs or DVDs for personal use. This has now been overturned by a High Court ruling that stems from a legal challenge from Basca, the Musicians’ Union, and industry representatives UK Music.

As such it is now, once again, illegal to make a copy of physical formats you own if you live in the UK, whether for personal use or to share – the latter was always illegal, though both situations were rarely enforced. This is something that the music industry has struggled with for decades, all the way back to the ‘home taping is killing music’ campaign.

The judge in this case ruled that the government was in the wrong by not introducing a compensation scheme for songwriters, musicians and rights holders. UK Music estimates losses of revenues for rights owners to be £58 million a year.

Another side effect of this ruling is that the ‘fair use’ of copyrighted material that the 2014 law allowed for – covering quotes but also parodies and even teaching materials – is once again out of the window.

As with previous rulings and campaigns by the industry, it’s entirely unclear as to how this will be enforced. It’s no secret to anyone that consumers have been copying legally purchased copyrighted material for years, whether for private use or to give to friends and family. [Via BBC Newsbeat.]