Questions about Fair Use laws and backup copies

I believe the Fair Use laws allow me to make backup copies of copyrighted material in case my original gets destroyed.

  1. Do the laws specify that I make the copy from my original?
  2. Do the laws specify that I make the copy onto the same media as the original?

For example, I have an audio cassette of music.
3) Could I make a backup audio cassette using a friend’s CD?
4) Could I make a backup audio CD using my original audio cassette.

Thanks for any help. And, of course, I acknowledge that any responses to be no more legally binding than a reading from Miss
Cleo.

Mistake #1. Unless you are a library (section 108), making a backup copy is not allowed. (It’s certainly not fair use, which makes absolutely no mention of making backup copies – see section 107 of the copyright law.) This should be clear, since software often specificially grants you the right to make a backup. If you had the right, they wouldn’t have to grant it to you, would they?

The law specifies that only the copyright holder can make a copy. They have the exclusive right to determine who can do so.

Since you can’t make a copy, this isn’t relevant. However, getting into the specific example:

Yes. This isn’t because it’s a backup copy, but because recording a cassette, while technically a copyright violation, cannot be grounds for an infringement claim. Blank cassettes can be used for a legal copy because a payment is made on every sale to pay for copying.

No. CDs are not licensed media (I’m blanking on the actual term here, but that’s the concept). No fee is paid for copies, so no legal copies can be made. And calling is a “backup” has no relevance to the infringement.

Who cares what the law says. As long as it is morally ok (you dont let anyone else use the copies) I would do all of those except the friend’s CD one.

According to the EFF,

From the same page, and also appearing on other explanations of fair use and in the law itself:

My interpretation of those factors is that a personal copy for archive purposes is indeed fair use. However, IANAL and I’d be interested to see if fair use provisions have been applied to personal backup copies in court.

As for software, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 117 of the US Code specifically allows backup copies of software:

Audio CD-Rs, the kind you use with a home stereo CD recorder, are indeed ‘licensed’. That’s why they cost more than regular CD-R media, you’re paying for a flag that says part of the media’s price went to the recording industry. (See the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992, section 1008.)

Thanks a lot RealityChuck for both answering my question and setting me straight on the backup issue.

This part of your response leads me to another question. Are there parties that receive money for blank cassette sales in exchange for agreeing not to make copyright infringement claims?