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Date Posted: 12/17/04 5:44am
Author: Julia
Subject: Re: COPYING MOVIES
In reply to: Jean Kender 's message, "COPYING MOVIES" on 12/16/04 10:46pm

I don't know about the previous poster but I live in the US and I've actually studied US Copyright Law. I'm also the personal assistant of a member of the Massachusetts and New York Bars. I wouldn't say not to copy stuff - I've done it myself quite a number of times. I think the point that was being made was that you shouldn't say it's ok - legal - to do so when in reality it is not.

As far as what the actual "problem" of copying TV shows, movies, etc would be - if it's a copyrighted work (and all intellectual work - movies, tv shows, written works, pieces of art, photographs, music - are automatically copyrighted to the owner whether it says it or not) it's owned by the copyright holder - solely. Legally, to make a copy of any material which is copyrighted, permission is supposed to be sought from the copyright holder before doing so. Granted, copyright violation is virtually a daily occurence - it doesn't automatically mean it's legal. The only time it's ok to make copies of anything is if it is considered public domain.

An example of copyrights at work - notice that in 99% of the cases on TV, Movies, etc. if it's someone's birthday the song "Happy Birthday" is rarely, if ever sung. The reason for that is that there is still a copyright holder on the song - it has not passed into public domain. In order to use it in any broadcast medium permission has to be received from the copyright holder and royalties paid.

As far as copying and sharing for personal use - what more public example can I give than Napster. Even though the file sharing done on Napster was for personal use the Music Industry was within its legal rights to not only stop the service but also to prosecute anyone who used it.

My advice, if you want to share copies of TV programs, movies, etc., - don't advertise it on a public messageboard. You don't know who may be reading a messageboard so I find it best not to "advertise" anything of that sort. Why give someone somewhere to start looking for a copyright violation. And, by all means, don't say that it's legal when it really isn's. Ignorance of the law is not a defensible position in a court of law.

If you'd like further information regarding copyrights the US Copyright Office has a website at http://www.copyright.gov/ which explains quite a bit about how copyrights work.

>What Country are you from??? I have VCR copies of
>events of famous people and a huge library of movies?
>So what is the problem making a copy from the TV set?
>Have you checked with a lawyer about this???

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