[peel] Re: BBC - DAT tapers wanted

[Ann Uther]

There is no fair use clause in this country. I think the misunderstanding stems from to things.
 
Firstly there is a fair use clause - including personal - in most civilised countries - including the USA - we're the oddity.
 
Secondly there is an idea enshrined in UK law that we can time shift TV programmes by recording them if this is for personal use.
 
This second idea does not cover sound recordings though.
 
In case you think I'm pro copyright, I will state now that I actually think the whole idea of copyright royalties is flawed because in the real world it's nearly impossible for the single copyright holder to enforce them and nearly impossible to defend against a malicious copyright suit if the plaintiff if rich enough. That's why Sun couldn't afford to protect it's copyright against Microsoft. It couldn't afford the court fees and conversely why the Church of Scientology has forced so many critics off the net. They only come unstuck after they realised that in the Dutch legal system no one pays until the case is settled.
 
I'll get off my soapbox now cos I'm too new to risk annoying longer serving members.

Martin Wheatley <martinwheatley@...> wrote:
At 12:46 06/04/2004 +0000, you wrote:
>I would have thought selling the tapes/CDs would be illegal, but actually
>recording the show falls into your right of recording the radio for your
>private listening in the future...
>
>After all, we all paid a bit for it (the old TV licence argument).
>
That's to the BBC not the copyright holders if we are going to be pedantic.!

The personal use argument (if it applies at all and I think its more
a matter of them not enforcing it rather than you having a legal right to 
do it)
applies only for YOUR personal use - passing your recording to anyone else
whether free, exchange or sold is definitely illegal

Having said that it's obviously not worth anyones while chasing up individual
deals like those that get mentioned on this list although its probably sensible
to do the actual negotiations offlist.

The copyright laws are ridiculous as they are because they are mostly 
unenforceable
This doesn't stop record and film company executives the world over from
campaigning to make them tougher (and therefore even more unenforceable)
Thanks to venal and stupid politicians they are being quite successful - 
there are
some very draconian laws heading our way - they just haven't been enforced yet

martinw - being careful!
		
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