The current situation around DRM and UK copyright legislation makes it difficult for researchers to obtain legal copies of texts and other in-copyright material for research purposes.

While UK law is supposed to provide protections to allow researchers to take advantage of exceptions for research, it remains a criminal offence to strip the DRM off e-texts, for instance. Section S296ZE of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act states that a complaint to the Secretary of State is the correct way to appeal this if the rightsholders refuse to provide a copy that is suitable for digital research purposes.

In this session, we would like to gather like-minded people together to discuss what could be done and which targets might prove best for such an appeal.