That's what I'm asking. Haven't you ALL heard people say: oh I want to make a backup of my CD or DVD so if kids throw them across the room and destroy them, I have a backup?! Well wait, if you don't have the original media, aren't you not able to listen/watch (to) it?
Perhaps you need to make a duplicate of all your content and if that is destroyed, make another copy of the original--but just never use the original. I know people who do that--and they keep the original. That is okay but I'm more interested in ripping to MC and burning custom playlists.
Interestingly... Despite what you may believe, music CDs are still
SOLD not licensed, and they
are subject to First Sale doctrine. While it may be unethical to buy a CD, rip it, and then re-sell it (or lose it or give it away), there is certainly nothing illegal about it. The record companies have the right, via copyright, to "First Sale" (which means they get to be the first one that sells the item, after which it becomes no different than a book or chair). They do not have the power to be the "only one to sell the item", just the only one to sell them "first". There's a big difference. First Sale doctrine is a very old facet of the law, well documented in statute, which has been tested specifically with both books and music a number of different times. It is this legal justification that allows libraries and pawn shops to exist.
DVDs are quite a bit murkier, due to the DRM and the "license" included with the DVD player software. However, these "shrinkwrap EULAs" have not been fully tested in court, and the few times where they have been didn't go so well for the vendors.
Truth be told, the same might be true for software too, despite what the shrinkwrapped EULA says. In SoftMan Products Co v. Adobe Systems Inc (California, 2001) the court ruled that First Sale doctrine still applied to Adobe software, despite the fact that the EULA stated that their software package was licensed, not sold, and could not be resold. SoftMan Products, Inc was buying bundled Adobe software (multi-user packs) and reselling individual copies for a profit, which Adobe didn't like and sued. The court sided with SoftMan Products, saying that despite what the EULA contended, the "circumstances surrounding the transaction" were such that the transfer constituted a
sale not a
license and that First Sale doctrine still applied.
This same idea would certainly seem to apply equally to not only DVDs, but most software purchases between a vendor and a consumer. The court is saying essentially "if it looks like a sale, smells like a sale, and feels like a sale, then it is a sale and First Sale doctrine applies".
A new case is just now starting up where Universal Music Group is suing a guy who was reselling on eBay the "not for sale -- promo" CDs Universal gives out free. UMG sued the guy, and sent take-down notices to eBay, and the guy counter-sued.
The EFF just took on the case. This could go either way (especially since UMG "gave away" the CDs originally and didn't sell them, which is the basis for their "no resale" claim), and we are likely years from a final resolution, but the question is far from answered at this point. Apparently, however, there is also caselaw that would seem to apply to items given away in addition to sold (a case where Disney sued an ex-employee trying to resell some original cells that he had been given while working there -- Disney lost).
Everyone seems to be under the false impression that the artificial copyright monopoly is absolute. It is not, though it has been certainly expanded greatly over the past 25 years or so. Copyright is more of a balancing act, and just because the "creator" says you can't do something, doesn't
always mean you can't. The courts have to say that, for it to be true.
Some states have enacted laws recently which seem to "crack down" on First Sale (mostly on used CD shops). None of these laws have been fully tested, and most are expected to fail once they do.
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Topic: OT - Universally DRM-Free... (Read 3624 times)