Recording industry goes for personal use

[Gutenberg]

I searched the forum for "RIAA" and found nothing. If this has already been posted then I apologize.

The Recording Industry Association of America is contending in its latest lawsuit that transferring legally purchased material to your computer is illegal:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...v=hcmodule

This in a lawsuit against a Scottsdale, Ariz. man who copied music CDs to his computer.

RIAA also contends that lending material is illegal, so the American Library Association may get involved.

[volcs0]

Wow.....


My next iPod?

[GGD]

This is interesting in light of the record companies own lawyers arguments in the Supreme Court saying that loading a purchased CD onto an iPod or computer is perfectly legal.

Start reading on page 11, line 18.

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_argum...04-480.pdf

"and let me pick out the iPod as one, because it's the most current example, I guess. From the moment that device was introduced, it was obvious that there were very significant lawful commercial uses for it. And let me clarify something I think is unclear from the amicus briefs. The record companies, my clients, have said, for some time now, and it's been on their Website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward."


Of course next they'll argue that the act of inserting a purchased CD into a CD player and converting the bits into audio so that you can listen to it is illegal.

[davester]

I'll be amazed (and disgusted) if the RIAA wins this lawsuit. It goes against everything that's been decided about copyright law ever since the 1960s, when people like me started using reel-to-reel tapes to record albums. I seem to recall reading an earlier article on this where they came up with an earlier quote where the RIAA said that it was actually OK to record albums for personal use.

Edit: Like GGD said! Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this claim pretty much make the pre-iTMS use of all iPods be illegal, since there were no widely available commercial sources of MP3s back then.

[GGD]

Oh, and Gutenberg, you got mentioned on line 3 of page 11

[Blankity Blank]

Actually, in the Arizona case, the main charge was that the person accused was sharing the files on Kazaa. He claimed that even though he was using Kazaa, the files were not being shared and were for personal use only. The RIAA called baloney on his claim they weren't being shared, he lost the case, but the original decision has since been vacated and the case has been reopened.

From ars technica back in August on the original decision:
"In his summary judgment, Judge Neil V. Wake dismissed the Howell's arguments and handed the RIAA $40,500 in statutory damages, $350 in court costs, and a permanent injunction against future copyright infringement by the Howells. "Several cases suggest that Kazaa users commit direct infringement by employing the Kazaa program to make their collections of copyrighted sound recordings available to all other Kazaa users," wrote Judge Wake, citing three other cases as well as Howell's deposition in which he admitted ownership of the Kazaa account in question."

From what I've read so far, the ripped = illegal is part of throwing a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks and is more based on splitting very fine hairs over when the RIAA has a problem with files being ripped; and that mostly seems to revolve around anything that has even a whiff of commercial use, redistributing or cracking in place DRM.

Even the RIAA's own site makes a grudging allowance for some copying, including copies to your computer:

"Copying CDs
It’s okay to copy music onto an analog cassette, but not for commercial purposes.
It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes.
Beyond that, there’s no legal "right" to copy the copyrighted music on a CD onto a CD-R. However, burning a copy of CD onto a CD-R, or transferring a copy onto your computer hard drive or your portable music player, won’t usually raise concerns so long as:
- The copy is made from an authorized original CD that you legitimately own
- The copy is just for your personal use. It’s not a personal use – in fact, it’s illegal – to give away the copy or lend it to others for copying.
- The owners of copyrighted music have the right to use protection technology to allow or prevent copying.
- Remember, it’s never okay to sell or make commercial use of a copy that you make."

We'll see how the next judge rules.

[deckeda]

Once the RIAA snags a few people more willing to pay them off, they'll be able to aggregate those successes and attack their main target: Sony v. Universal (i.e. "Betamax case"). Once that gets overturned, Fair Use will be a thing of the past finally.

[swampy]

So most CDs have some statement about not making an "illegal copy". So what's the definition of a "legal" copy? Can't backup? BS.

The best way to defeat the RIAA is just to quit buying music. Yeah, the labeled artist will lose out, but the labels don't pay them much for CD sales anyway. They make their money on concert tickets and ancillary sales of tee shirts, programs and stuff.

The first thing I do when I buy a CD is burn out an AIFF copy then reimport it back into iTunes as an MP3. I'll forsake the high bit rate for a lower one so that I save on disk (iPod space).

[ho'ard]

[quote swampy]
The best way to defeat the RIAA is just to quit buying music. That would be like cornering a mother bear . . . you may kill it in the end but you'll have a full-fledged blood-bath along the way.

[quote swampy]Yeah, the labeled artist will lose out, but the labels don't pay them much for CD sales anyway. They make their money on concert tickets and ancillary sales of tee shirts, programs and stuff. I've never heard that touring was profitable-- nI doubt this assertion.


[quote swampy]The first thing I do when I buy a CD is burn out an AIFF copy then reimport it back into iTunes as an MP3. I'll forsake the high bit rate for a lower one so that I save on disk (iPod space). You mean "rip", not "burn out"-- right?
Do you keep the AIF's on hand? If not, why not just import to your preferred format directly from CD?

[GGD]

"It’s also okay to copy music onto special Audio CD-R’s, mini-discs, and digital tapes (because royalties have been paid on them) – but, again, not for commercial purposes."

I wonder how they decide how to distribute those royalties, since they have absolutely no idea what is being recorded onto that media, or if it's just blank sitting on a shelf.