Its my understanding that downloading music and movies from the internet is copyright infringement, these things are not freely available at a scheduled time, but lets talk about TV shows (lets assume free to air for now).
If I download a TV show that i missed from last week am I committing copyright infringement?
How about if I live in a different country and download it before it plays on TV where I live? (Assume it would at some point play for free in my country).
Also is recording programs off television copyright infringement?
Would all this change if it was a show from a cable channel i don’t have?
If you download it from a site other than one authorized by the copyright owner, yes, it is illegal.
See above. Downloading from sites other than ones authorized by the copyright owner is illegal. However, if you’re overseas, you may be subject to the copyright law of the country where you live, which is likely to be a signatory to the Berne Convention, so you’re still on the hook. There’s also the Buenos Aires Convention and possibly the Rome Convention, which governs the recording arts and broadcasting.
No. Recording TV programs from television is a form of time-shifting that is permitted by law. (See Sony v. Universal for more information.) Of course, this assumes that you’re recording programs using your own equipment for personal use. Once you post it to the Internet, you’re infringing copyright.
No. Downloading material from sites other than those authorized by the copyright holder is illegal.
My cite for this is the NET Act, which makes exchange of copyrighted material a criminal act even if it’s not for profit.
Thanks for the answer. Seems silly to me that if I record something its legal, but if i download it its illegal. I probably should of said that I live in Australia.
Also if it is played on Free to air TV hasn’t the person who owns the copyright basically given permission for everyone to watch it as they please?
One additional question what if you watch it on the Authorized site, that is US only when you don’t live in the US, is it still copyright infringement ?
It may be silly. But the point is it’s not up to you. The creator of the work owns the copyright, and he gets to choose how people get to see the show. He’s decided to make it available through certain outlets (presumably because he’s happy with the payment he receives from them) and not through others (presumably because he isn’t satisfied with the payment they’re willing to offer). If you try downloading something from a U.S.-only site and you’re not in the U.S, that is of course infringement. The owner has decided to make it available in the U.S., not in Australia. Maybe because he has other plans of how to distribute it in Oz and doesn’t want to cannibalize his market. Maybe because he doesn’t want to deal with Australia’s regulations of broadcast content. Maybe because he just figures it’s too much hassle to learn all he’d need to about Australian standards and laws to feel confident in releasing his material there. But regardless, that’s his decision. You don’t have a right to watch anything you want, even if you’re willing to pay for it, and especially if you’re not. The owner of artistic works gets to decide when and where to display them, the same way you get to decide to whom you’re going to lend your lawnmower.
Also note, MsRobyn’s analysis is correct under U.S. law. It might not be correct under Australian law – specifically, the legality of recording shows off broadcast for home use comes from a specific U.S. Supreme Court case (the aforementioned Sony v. Universal), and there may or may not have been similar developments in the law of other countries.
No, because it’s on an authorized site. For example, if you want to watch The Office on Hulu, that’s one thing. NBC controls that and has chosen to make it available. However, if you download it from a torrent site, a third party has made it available, which makes it illegal under US law.
By the way, Australia is a signatory to the major copyright conventions, so yes, you’d probably be on the hook there. I don’t know what the Australian law says about time-shifting, but downloading as you’ve described it isn’t the same as time-shifting.
I know it seems kind of weird that something that is free to watch on TV would be illegal to download. But networks make additional revenue from syndication, DVD box sets and digital distribution (iTunes and the like). Also, residual income from the sale of these box sets and digital distribution is a serious bone of contention with the actors’ unions and was one of the issues with the writer’s strike, so there’s that, too.
The lesson you need to take away is don’t do it. The Recording Industry Association of America has been notoriously aggressive about protecting its members’ rights, and there’s no reason to think that other groups won’t do the same.
One interesting irony is that there is at least one Australian broadcasting company that won’t let me watch its videos online. It’s blocked non-Australian IPs from viewing its content. (IIRC, it’s the Australian Broadcasting Company, but I could be wrong.)
I just read the Terms of Service for hulu.com. They don’t mind if overseas residents use their service, but it is at the discretion of the copyright holders, not Hulu. (I’m using that as the example because it’s one of the largest repositories of legal content on the Internet.) You also agree to submit to US jurisdiction, specifically California law, since the site is based in Los Angeles.
I live in the UK and haven’t been able to watch a single program on Hulu. From their FAQ it seems to be a legal issue, clearing copyright for each country.
I’m sure you didn’t imply that the U.S. hasn’t signed the Berne convention, which it did in '88. Very late, but still. Just nitpicking in all freindliness, since it could be read that way.
As for Hulu, the production companies want to sell the shows to tv stations in other countries. If I could watch Lost legally onn Hulu the day after the original airdate, I’d never tune in to my local station and they’d get no ad revenue.
I’d be surprised if Hulu or someone else didn’t put up similar services in most jusrisdictions.
I know it’s possible to get DVR (PVR/whatever your cable company wants to call them) for XXX$ (400$ in my case), but have any cable companies started to show TV shows on a Video-on-Demand basis? It seems to me that being able to pay 1.99$ or whatever on VOD to watch a show that was missed during the preceding 2 weeks (for example) would be a good incentive for a lot of people to avoid getting illegal copies elsewhere. People will skip out on an entire season if they miss one or two episodes of certain shows - seems VOD would be a good money-making way of getting around that. Especially if the shows could be offered in HD and regular-D, which would be much better quality than anything I’ve ever caught online, IME.
Does anyone know anything about this? Are any companies doing it, of what are the largest barriers to doing it (contracts, I assume, but if the cable company can already carry NBC shows, then sharing the $$ from VOD of those shows seems pretty straight forward, legally!)
Along these lines, is anyone familiar with Wixi.com? Great site for catching full episodes for all sorts of media, but I can’t find much about its legality?
So I guess it’s just my provider that hasn’t caught on yet. Of course, their VOD menu seems to be Version 0.6 from 1997 as well - it’s pretty terrible.
I hope they start doing this, though. I’d love to be able to re-watch or catch up on shows from channels I’m already paying for!
I just find this sad, especially because the ABC doesn’t make revenue from advertising and I’d imagine that most of their shows wouldn’t get played overseas.
