The 2005 amendment to the Finnish Copyright Act and Criminal Code, commonly known as Lex Karpela,[1] was an amendment to make the Finnish copyright legislation and criminal code comply with the EU Copyright Directive 2001/29/EC. It was presented to the President of Finland by Culture Minister Tanja Karpela.
The amendment was accepted by the Finnish parliament in a vote on 5 October 2005. It came into effect on 1 January 2006.
The purpose of the amendment was to update the copyright legislation for the special features of digital and network environments, and apply the changes required by the EU Copyright Directive. The amendment additionally includes national legislation solutions independent of the directive.
The main features of the amendment are:
Section 50a of the new law prohibits copying works for personal use if the work is protected by an "effective technical measure". Even an effective protection may be circumvented to watch or listen to the work, though.
The restriction has been a subject of controversy and the interpretation is yet to see. Open questions are e.g. whether it's legal to circumvent a copy protection to convert the work to a format usable on a portable MP3 player, or whether a copy-protected CD can be reproduced as a standards-compliant audio CD to listen to it on a car radio.
Section 50b prohibits distributing products or services that make possible or facilitate the circumvention of copy protection. The preamble says that offering these services in an organized or commercial manner would be the kind of distribution that the law refers to. This has been seen as restricting the freedom of speech.
A demonstration against the bill was held in the afternoon of 4 October 2005. According to an estimate by the police, roughly 300 people participated. Almost all attendees were young adults and all political youth organizations from political right to left supported the demonstration.