Lets say I bought a CD (which I hear the record co’s say I am really buying the right to listen to the music) and I lost it over the years. I figure I can legally go onto the internet and use one of the file sharing programs to download the songs I paid for and reconstruct my CD.
Am I correct?
No.
You only own the actual CD; you do not own the songs on it. Only the copyright holder does that.
Let’s fill in a bit more.
Under “Fair use” you could have made a copy of your CD for backup purposes, etc. As long as it was for just your use, didn’t sell it, etc. you can copy 'til the cows come home. The RIAA will tell you different but that is what the courts have said.
Copying someone else’s CD is a completely different ball of wax. If it was for non-commercial use, and you had a bunch of great lawyers, you might win a court case with the RIAA. But then again, you might not.
Note that in “legal” terms, these are civil and not criminal matters. The DMCA has made certain types of copying criminal, but since regular CDs are not copy protected, this should not apply. I.e., you could lose money rather than do jail time.
Probably illegal since someone else is listening to the CD you bought. You have essentially created a situation where two people are listening to two copies but you only paid for one.
Fair Use principals say (IANAL) that you can make a copy if in doing so you are not precluding what would otherwise be a sale of the material. For example, I have a CD at home and I copy it to listen to in the car. I could schlep the thing between my car and the house every day without buying another one, so for convenience I make a copy. Not exactly a backup, but probably allowable under fair use–I’m still the only one using it and could use it the same way with a single copy. But in the case you describe, you basically lost your license when you lost the CD, even though you originally paid for it.
CookingWithGas, suppose one has every CD backed up on a DVD-MP3 at the house (that’s a LOT of music). But the car’s factory stereo only plays run-of-the-mill CD’s, so, that’s where all of the original CD’s are. Some clueless idiot breaks into your car and snags your CD collection. The “backup” still exists and can serve its purpose of being a backup, but someone else can now listen to the music without having been paid.
I can imagine two things: (1) the backups’d have to be erased or (2) the bad guy is guilty of TWO crimes – stealing your stuff and listening to unlicensed music. Of course if the FBI busts the victim, there’s no proof he originally had said CDs…
Any thoughts?
If they were stolen then the bad guy is guilty of copyright infringment and I cound use my backup copy it would seem. If I lost them …??? If there were destroyed…???
Can a backup be made after such an event? Or is a backup not good anymore once the orginal is gone (it would seem to negate the purpose of a backup)
Two questions:
Say I own the CD but I want to covert the songs to digital form to listen to on my computer while I’m using my CD drive for something else, then I can legally do that, right? Because the music is only being used in one place, and not in two places at the same time.
Working under the assumption that the answer to question one is yes, if I can’t find software to use to convert my CD into MP3s, could I download the song from a file sharing system without being in violation of the law?
I ask because I have just finished listening to a digital version of Barber’s Adiagio for Strings. I own a CD with this song on it, but it is locked in my desk drawer at work. I know no one else is using that CD, so I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong… am I?
Please cite the case where the court said this. AFAIK, there has never been any ruling on making a backup of a CD (especially since it clearly goes against both the letter and intent of the law). The only thing even remotely similar is the ability to tape something off the air.
Copyright law states that only a library can make a backup for archive purposes. This is the only mention of any right to make an achive copy in the copyright law. No where under “fair use” is there any exemption for making a backup.
I’m quoting from the law (sections 107 and 108). I suggest you do the same.
No. You have no legal right to make any copies. It’s not a matter of one or two places; you are making copies when you have no legal right to do so. You can make copies on approved media (i.e., casettes and tapes) because you are granted amnesty from being sued (even though you are technically in violation).
Moot question, since the answer to question 1 is “no.”
Ok, well, I’ve been trying to post this stupid reply since last night and the board hasn’t been working quite right for me, so here is my late reply to your question:
Well, here is an answer which may not be quite right, but at least my take on it.
In 1998 the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed. This law prohibits anyone from overriding a technological device that controls access to a copyrighted work. Now, the recent arrests you’ve probably been seeing involve people breaking into something which they shouldn’t. The case of the Russian hacker arrested in Las Vegas for breaking Adobe’s copyright protection, and the Warez hackers for breaking the copyright protection on a number of games. This law also deals with hardware, so hacking into the DVD player to play foreign discs and programs that allow you do to so are also covered under this law.
There are people in congress that want to ammend the law and make it OK to mess with stuff that you own, but still illegal to distribute it. (You can put the MOD chip in your PS2, but you can’t sell them).
The max fine/prison term for breaking this law is five years and a $500,000 fine.
Now, on to the issue of music. With napster, they got in trouble because the the way you got songs was stored on their server. With Kazaa, the company does not know who has songs, and what they’re doing with them. It uses a Peer to peer system meaning your computer talks directly to other computers, with no server between. Now, with that said, Kazaa is going around the law (no direct link to them and illegal music), and they say that the system is provided for legal file sharing.
Ok, anyways, on to your question. As far as I know, the laws protecting music and software are basically the same. Now, another interesting thing is this: If you’re caught breaking a copyright law, you probably won’t be put into jail. (Innocent until proven guilty), you’ll be sued and it’s much easier for someone to sue you than to get you thrown in jail.
Here’s some reading if you’re really up to it:
http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html
http://www.educause.edu/issues/dmca.html
http://www.softwaremetering.com/fines.html (a little out dated)
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50620,00.html (not exactly related)
http://www.riaa.org/Copyright-Laws-1.cfm (straight from the people that care the most)