Similarly, in its report on ‘Proposed Changes to Copyright Exceptions’, the UK
Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) observed that in determining the appropriate balance
between exclusive rights and exceptions, it is a basic principle of copyright policy that the result
should be in the public interest. In determining what constitutes the public interest, the
government must consider a number of policy goals, including educational, economic, social
and legal objectives in correspondence with the incentives for creativity and the economic
interest for copyright owners. These are important factors because the economic rationale for
copyright protection is to generate a sufficient level of creative works and the provision of
exclusive rights for copyright owners is necessary in order to incentivize the production or
investment in creative works valuable to society. Without appropriate protection for copyright
owners, competitors would be able to offer the same goods at a lower price since the initial cost
of creation would not be incurred, which in turn would discourage investment in creative
activity. Since the protection of the exclusive rights can potentially impose undue costs on the public or users, the exceptions in copyright law exist in order to safeguard public interests by
preventing such undue costs on the users. This means that the copyright exception must
effectively safeguard the public interest while ensuring a socially desirable level of creative
output.