[avantman42]

I've seen people argue back and forth whether or not it's legal to remove DRM in the US. It's generally said that it's legal in the UK, because there is no DMCA or similar law making it illegal.

However, it is my understanding that in the UK, it is illegal to make an unauthorised copy of a copyrighted work, even for personal use. The oft-quoted example being that it's illegal to take a legally-purchased CD and rip it to MP3s so that you can listen to it on your iPod.

I would imagine that removing the DRM would qualify as making a copy, in the same way that format-shifting qualifies. If that's true, then I'd further imagine that it's illegal in the UK.

Can anyone confirm or contradict this? I'm only interested in the legality, I really don't want to get into a discussion about the ethics or morals of removing DRM. Also, note that I'm asking about UK law - please don't cite "fair use" - UK law doesn't have a fair use provision.