Copyright Laws

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k4star

Bluelighter
Joined
Apr 12, 2000
Messages
421
So I was thinking about the whole mp3 world and how the music companies really can't seem to get their hands around it at all. They claim it is illegal to have copies of mp3's which you don't own (i.e. - have bought the CD or Tape). I've also heard that they are going to start making examples of people that share thousands of mp3's on fileservers by prosecuting them to the tune of something like $100k/mp3.

So here is my question. What's to keep a person from telling them, "i used to own that cd but i gave it away/sold it"? Would the lawyers demand that you produce receipts to show that you actually purchased the cd at some point in your life? Is this something we need to do in order to protect ourselves from the RIAA?

It seems to me that you could simply tell them that you lost the cd but you did own it at one time. If you give it away do you forefit the rights that you purchased when you originally bought the CD? If you sell it to a used CD store do you sell the rights too?

Just curious I guess. It seems like prosecuting people for this would be virtually impossible.
 
k4star said:
So here is my question. What's to keep a person from telling them, "i used to own that cd but i gave it away/sold it"? Would the lawyers demand that you produce receipts to show that you actually purchased the cd at some point in your life? Is this something we need to do in order to protect ourselves from the RIAA?

It seems to me that you could simply tell them that you lost the cd but you did own it at one time.
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Sure they can stilll prosecute you. If the jury doesn't believe you, then they can still find you guilty/liable.
 
Obviously they can prosecute you...my question is would they go so far as to demand that you provide receipts for your cd purchases? And if you couldn't produce them, would your failure to produce them be grounds for automatic guilt?

I own lots of CD's right now as it is and I don't have a single receipt for any of them (I'm willing to bet that about 99.99% of the population shares my current disposition). What's more, I've lost quite a few cd's in my life that I've bought. Am I going to hell? Am I going to hell only if I share them? Even if I don't share them isn't it illegal to have mp3's on your HD if you don't own the CD?
 
k4star said:
Obviously they can prosecute you...
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But you just said you thought it would be impossible.

k4star said:
my question is would they go so far as to demand that you provide receipts for your cd purchases? And if you couldn't produce them, would your failure to produce them be grounds for automatic guilt?
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No.

Seems to me that it would probably be enough if you had the CD itself, but even if you didn't have the CD or the receipt, if the jury believed you when you said you bought it, that would be enough.

Of course, the jury might not believe you, or your lawyer might not want you to testify because you have an extensive criminal record, or whatever.
 
Where I am, copyright law forbids format shifting - e.g. I can't legally make an MP3 or a cassette tape of a CD which I've already purchased - I need to purchase the MP3 seperately.

I presume US law allows format shifting?

Anyway: you say 'they claim it's illegal to have copies of MP3s which you don't own' - well, it is illegal, no two ways about it. Even if you have a legal copy of a given MP3, sharing it on a fileserver would still be illegal. So it doesn't matter whether you can prove that you're legitimately entitled to own the MP3 - if you're sharing it, you're breaking either copyright law or the license that you purchased the MP3 under, whichever applies.

(Of course the Apple itunes service permits streaming of the tracks you've downloaded, so in that one case you'd be OK).

But basically, if you have a file on a filesharing network, you are breaking copyright, unless you specifically have permission to do so. So they're within their rights to try to sue you - whether doing so would be successful, or financially viable, is another matter, but they could do it.

If you don't share them: technically, still illegal (AFAIK) - but they're not likely to find out, are they?
 
^^^^^
Yeah I was thinking the same thing a few days ago. As long as you stayed off the filesharing networks then you have nothing to worry about I guess. They *shouldn't* be able to find you and your 10,000 mp3 collection. It seems that they make the biggest stink about sharing rather than having and as long as they have your IP logged as sharing at some point in time I guess they've got you right where they want you.
 
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