XHonusWagnerX
Moderator
Posts: 12509
Registered: 7-14-2005
Location: pawtucket
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it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12...
Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from
record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing.
Still, hardly a month goes by without a news release from the industry's lobby, the Recording Industry Association of America, touting a new wave of
letters to college students and others demanding a settlement payment and threatening a legal battle.
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.
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."
RIAA's hard-line position seems clear. Its Web site says: "If you make unauthorized copies of copyrighted music recordings, you're stealing. You're
breaking the law and you could be held legally liable for thousands of dollars in damages."
They're not kidding. In October, after a trial in Minnesota -- the first time the industry has made its case before a federal jury -- Jammie Thomas
was ordered to pay $220,000 to the big record companies. That's $9,250 for each of 24 songs she was accused of sharing online.
Whether customers may copy their CDs onto their computers -- an act at the very heart of the digital revolution -- has a murky legal foundation, the
RIAA argues. The industry's own Web site says that making a personal copy of a CD that you bought legitimately may not be a legal right, but it "won't
usually raise concerns," as long as you don't give away the music or lend it to anyone.
Of course, that's exactly what millions of people do every day. In a Los Angeles Times poll, 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said they thought it was
legal to copy a CD they own and give it to a friend. The RIAA cites a study that found that more than half of current college students download music
and movies illegally.
The Howell case was not the first time the industry has argued that making a personal copy from a legally purchased CD is illegal. At the Thomas trial
in Minnesota, Sony BMG's chief of litigation, Jennifer Pariser, testified that "when an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we
can say he stole a song." Copying a song you bought is "a nice way of saying 'steals just one copy,' " she said.
But lawyers for consumers point to a series of court rulings over the last few decades that found no violation of copyright law in the use of VCRs and
other devices to time-shift TV programs; that is, to make personal copies for the purpose of making portable a legally obtained recording.
As technologies evolve, old media companies tend not to be the source of the innovation that allows them to survive. Even so, new technologies don't
usually kill off old media: That's the good news for the recording industry, as for the TV, movie, newspaper and magazine businesses. But for those
old media to survive, they must adapt, finding new business models and new, compelling content to offer.
The RIAA's legal crusade against its customers is a classic example of an old media company clinging to a business model that has collapsed. Four
years of a failed strategy has only "created a whole market of people who specifically look to buy independent goods so as not to deal with the big
record companies," Beckerman says. "Every problem they're trying to solve is worse now than when they started."
The industry "will continue to bring lawsuits" against those who "ignore years of warnings," RIAA spokesman Jonathan Lamy said in a statement. "It's
not our first choice, but it's a necessary part of the equation. There are consequences for breaking the law." And, perhaps, for firing up your
computer.
| Quote: | Originally posted by REV.PAULIE
HONUS-as much as i can't stand a great deal of what you really like (for my own reasons that i would never hold,nor impose,against you),YOU FUCKING
RULE!
YOU,HONUS,IS WHAT MAKES THE "EDGE" COOL.
YOUR FRIEND,
PAULIE |
check out my post contributions at www.VinylNoize.com
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JawnDiablo
Posting Freak
Posts: 12139
Registered: 4-21-2005
Location: 1902666
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I've been ripping cds to my pc all afternoon to put on Moira's Ipod.
Fuck this bullshit.
Allow me to bring up the double cassette deck from the 80s /90s.
I buy vds.
I download illegally too.
I own over a thousand cds, many suck. so i think i got robbed.
it all equals out.
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Discipline
* DRUNKEN MONKEY *
Posts: 11900
Registered: 9-8-2004
Location: Over here
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Mood: The Alley Dukes
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I don't download music, but I've put a good chunk of my cd's onto my computer. They aren't accessable by anyone but me, and if the record industry
has a problem with that then they can lick my sack. I still buy cd's and records, and I'll be damned if I'll let anybody tell me how I can listen to
them.
‘Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a fucking gun. Straight through your heart.’
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clevohardcore
* Kick\'n ass on the wild side *
Posts: 12937
Registered: 9-19-2004
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sick Of It All, Youth Of Today
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I put everything on my computer even though the fucking itunes keeps deleting it somehow.
Each aspect of the soul has it's own part to play, but the ideal is harmonious agreement with reason and control.
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Six66Mike
Posting Freak
Posts: 3090
Registered: 11-20-2003
Location: Queensland Australia
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Mood: Dead Hearts
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haha this is no surprise, the Universal Group CEO says iPod users were thieves and went after Apple and Steve Jobs. Universal is ok with Microsoft &
the Zune though, because MS agreed to give Universal a percentage of revenue from every Zune purchased.
Plus we pay tariffs and fees on blank media like CD-R's which go to the labels, so why can't we put our music on our own media if we pay for the CD
and the media to play it on? I wouldn't be surprised if they charged stereo vendors a fee to plat a CD haha.
If you got time and hate these fucking idiots, go read this blog:
http://www.demonbaby.com/blog/2007/10/when-pigs-fly-death-of...
A lot of people ask me what kind of music I like. I love "soul music". My "soul music" isn’t a style, genre or niche. It’s music that is genuine. It’s
a painful lyric, a dirty bassline, it’s a harrowing vocal, it’s feedback, it’s an anthem, it’s a love song, it’s anarchy. I’ve got my personal
favourites but in the end it doesn’t matter who or where it comes from... so long as it’s good and it's real.
- Paul Morris, music director at 97.7 HTZ-FM
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