In a bid to hold on to the title of Biggest Assholes on the Planet, the RIAA now claims that making a digital copy - for your own personal use - of a CD that you legally purchased is ... wait for it ... theft.
From a recent copy of the Washington Post:
Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.Read the rest of this heart-warming article here.
The industry's lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.
"I couldn't believe it when I read that," says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. "The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation."
6 comments:
I LOVE the RIAA. I think they're great. And I have NO music on my computer, nor have I ever shared any. I never made cassettes of my records so I could listen to them in the car, nor did I let friends listen to any albums / CDs / cassetes I ever bought. Never. So there is absolutely no reason for them to come after me.
Oops, there's been a follow-up article, Joe. Apparently, just LISTENING to CDs that you've legally purchased now counts as theft, as one or two songs may get stuck in your head. And as an addendum, they're considering the possibility of suing those poor bastards who thought about purchasing a CD and then decided not to. (Kinda like how having lust in your heart is the same as adultery.)
We just can't win this one.
Unfortunately, Mr. Beckerman (surely a made up name!) did not pay attention in law school. It is not a basic principle of the law that you have to distribute physical copies to violate copyright. At the same time, I cannot see a court accepting the RIAA argument unless there are special circumstances in this case (such as proof that this guy made a lot of additional copies using his computer).
If I remember my copyright law correctly, creating a copy of a music file on an mp3 player is protected by statute, in part because the player cannot in turn make further copies, thereby ensuring the copy is for one's personal non-commercial use. Copying onto a hard drive is slightly different, because one can make further copies, but the twist is that I imagine most people have to use a computer to get the CD onto the mp3 player in the first place. Also, many people, (not me of course), use a PC at work or in a home office essentially as an mp3 player.
Other interesting questions that come to mind involve the legality of the CDs/DVDs created by conversion services that transfer all of one's CDs to mp3 format. I have kept all those discs from when I made the shift to mp3s as a backup in case the house burns down etc. Perhaps these backups are contraband? The wife will be thrilled if it turns out that beneath my conventional exterior beats the wayward heart of a villainous scofflaw!
Thank God no one around here shares music. And if anyone makes such a claim, I hereby retain Andy as my lawyer. Unless, of course, he is the one bringing suit. In that case, Lurker is my attorney of record.
Oh man, Dave, we would be so screwed.
This is the new wine in the old wineskins thing that Marshall McLuhan wrote so insightfully about in books like Understanding Media. Trying to make a set of laws written for a past generation, for an obsolete format, work in our brave nude world just pisses everyone off. And enrichens lawyers.
And embiggens no one.
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