RE: Question About Music Copyright

[Max.Hyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

   Dear Ms. Tedford:

   Sorry about the delay, but since no one else has answered, I'll
give it a try.

   The short answer is:  Your students are right.

   The long answer is:  Such moving of legally-owned works is entirely
legal (at least in the U.S.), and is recognized as such in the
U.S. Supreme Court's Betamax decision, in which it held that not only
is copying of a work allowed to the owner (that's ``owner of a copy'',
not ``owner of the copyright''), but also to those who simply *view*
the work.  Specifically, it said

	The sale of the VTR's [sic] to the general public
	does not constitute contributory infringement of
	respondents' copyrights.

(Court's summary at http://hrrc.org/html/betamax.html, full decision
at http://hrrc.org/html/majority.html et seq.)

   Thus, the Court said it's OK to sell folks the means to copy TV
broadcasts off the air.  The original broadcast is a performance (of a
work) they haven't paid for, but it's still OK to copy it.  How can
fewer rights attach to a copy one *has* paid for, and owns in fee
simple?

   Notice further that the whole point of copyright is to aid the
spread of knowledge, be it ``Gone With the Wind'' or ``Principia
Mathematica'' (Russell & Whitehead---I don't know whether Newton had
access to copyright.)

   Thus, transfer of one's own CD-ROM to an MP3 player, or to a
cassette tape, or whatever, is fully in accord with both the letter
and the spirit of the law.

   (I'll refrain from inveighing against producers [as distinct from
authors] of music, video, cinema, &c. &c., for trying to subvert both.
If you'd like me to, just ask.  :-)


-- 

			Best wishes,

				Max Hyre

				[Note the lack of ``JD''.]

--

                         Best wishes,

                                  Max Hyre
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rosalind Tedford [mailto:tedforrl@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 9:18 AM
> To: digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Question About Music Copyright
> 
	[snip]
> 
> I have students arguing with me all the time that if they own the CD,
> it's legal for them to make MP3s or make a second copy of the CD for
> personal use. I know this is not the case, but if anyone has a site
> (or handout) that explains why, I'd love to see it!!
> 
	[snip]