Quote:
Originally Posted by ADd
I think you may have been refering to the info given here:
http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/howto-notgetsued.php
Let me use an analogy. You go and buy a cd from 'cds r us' take it home, and play your cd. The cd has been purchased, and under the license you are allowed to play for home/personal use, and are allowed to make copies for your own use only. Secondly you see a film on tv, you tape with your VHS or DVD burner, but don't pay for it - now obviously one is illegal, and one isn't. The main reason because you have broken the agreement of the license, and the copyright law of the UK.
People have been taping films off the tv for years, and have not been taken to court - indeed I bet it one went into a majority of homes in the UK illegal copies of taped radio or films would be found. Basically file sharing is the same, if you share files (upload and download) you can be taken to court - indeed you could have been taken to court for taping from radio or the film off the tv. |
Actually, there's a couple of points you made that aren't quite as clear-cut as you make out.
Firstly, under UK law it is not legal to make back-up copies - even for personal use - of a CD that you bought. Many european countries, the US, Canada, and loads of other countries
do allow this, but not here in Blighty. Interestingly, in a lot of the European countries where this is permissable, you pay a tax on CD-RW drives, blank CDs and other recordable media in order to compensate the record labels.
Secondly, someone did get taken to court over this, and the courts decided that it is
not illegal to record a TV show or a radio broadcast, in order to view it at a later time. The so-called "Betamax Case" in the US, whilst not setting a precedent over here, did influence the UK courts massively. That's why VCRs and DVD recorders are sold and used legally throughout the UK, and why the police don't bash down everybody's doors confiscating all your video tapes and audio cassettes.
Similarly, the Diamond Rio case protects manufacturers... although the MGM Grokster case doesn't offer software writers the same protection
