Someone mentioned earlier that it is illegal to record a televsion show and then pass it on to someone else. I was just wondering if anyone had any specific knowledge about this? I did some research, but the closest thing I found was something called "fair use" which said it is OK to record a show for personl use, and for "close" friends and relatives,as long as no money was exchanged. If you have any specific sites that explain this, please post them as well!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 28, 2002

Answers

So long as you're not selling them, I don't think it would present any problem.

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), January 28, 2002.

PBS has a nice description at http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/copyright/copyright_fairuse.shtm

The Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that consumers could "time shift" TV programs on VCRs to view later.

Take a look at the end of most programs. They say may not be duplicated. Same is true of music CD. Heck some music CD say you can resell them. Once purchased they are yours and must be destroyed if not wanted.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 28, 2002.

I think "intent" is the operative word here. Say you have a VCR and your parents taped something and you forgot to but wanted to watch it so you borrowed their tape. Is that wrong, probably not.

Where it gets bad is you owning a CD and making a copy for your friend. They could buy one, so you're depriving the artist of income. You making a tape copy for your car is not the same thing, you do have an "original", so to speak. I know a LOT of records will not be put on CD, so what will happen when you can no longer get record players?

I see a lot of church songbooks that are sold with 1 year licenses that mean they are to be destroyed at the end of the year (I disagree with that myself).

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 28, 2002.

GT, IS it wrong, no, Is it illegal yes.

Granted no one is going to come after you because grandpa made a tape for you. You say that making a copy of the TV for a friend (or family) is ok but making a copy of cd is not? Whats the difference? You can in most cases buy a copy of most TV programs on the air. Cost is 20-$100/show, but you can do it. Also as for owing a CD, YOU never own a CD, you own the right to listen to it. Very different legal issue.

-- Gary in Ohio (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 28, 2002.

I would like to add a few comments from my own personal experience of the subject of tapes that you record...Many years ago when video was first new my wife and I got on the ground floor so to speak and was going to open a Video store...Unfortuntately things didn't work out and we decided to just build our own library of videos which now stands at somewhere around 3600...We had friends who didn't have cable and only got two stations on the tv...We built up a very large collection of childrens tapes and loaned them to our friends.We would go to the Video store and rent movies tape them and put them in our collection..The word got out to the Video store owners and I guess they turned us in to FCC. Our house was under servailance for about six months and then we received a nice long letter in the mail with evrything we could we charged with.. 1. You may tape anything on TV, But you cannot loan it out to anyone. plus many more regulations that went on and on..Some friends of ours were making four or five copys of movies and selling them..They got five years and a fine of $15,000.00...But now I don't know what the rules are but I know when they come into your house they have a list of every movie that has been on TV and if you have any you recorded from rentals you are done....

-- Bob (snuffy@1st.net), January 28, 2002.

I am not sure why the FCC would be involved.FCC has no muscle to do anything they have to go to the marshalls for enforcement. On top of that copyright issues are a civil matters

Now granted if your selling tapes across state lines then its a federal issue but then its not a copyright issue.

-- gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 28, 2002.

only illegel if you charge for it

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), January 28, 2002.

I am thinking of the example of making a backup copy of say your operating system, which you own. Also, taping for personal use (you might after all live with your family) is protected under fair use. The CD example, again, you own it, and we all know that while they are supposed to be fairly indestructible, in reality they are quite easily damaged. Making the copy for a friend is wrong, but making a backup for yourself is not.

I believe the original case for time shifting of TV broadcasts using VCRs was actually brought by Betamax. I have read somewhere that part of the cost for blank tapes is a little surcharge to cover potential illegal copying. I have no idea how this money is distributed, however.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 28, 2002.

Gary, I'm sorry about saying the FCC anyway it was a government office out of Cleveland, It could have been the FBI for all I know..

-- Bob (snuffy@1st.net), January 28, 2002.

The fair use can be supersceeded by the copyright owner. CDROM and digital data have a right to backup, but NOT to use unless the primary has failed. Data backup is not the same as copying a tv program.

The copyright holder controls the cards. NFL says no taping at all, even fair use without their approval. Even in an education enviornment where most of the fair use laws apply.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), January 28, 2002.

Why anyone would tape a game (of any sort, not picking on football here) to watch after you already know who won is beyond me....

While the laws are being rewritten in light of the digital age, any library should have a copy of the fair use laws and how they apply.

Also, some blame for copying must be placed at the feet of the copyright holder, whether it is the author or the publisher. I cannot tell you how many times people go to buy something only to find it is either totally unavailable, or not available for a reasonable cost, due to lack of being able to contact the copyright holder directly.

A lot of authors, for example, did not sign contracts giving the copyright back to them after a certain number of editions. The publishing company goes out of business, and you can't get a copy of a book anymore, not even the author. Smart authors are these days either keeping the copyrights themselves, or putting it in the contract that rights revert back to them in case of business failure, so that the author can publish if the original company can't or won't.

I don't know anyone who uses the original of their operating system to reload on their computer once they've made a copy. The whole point of the copy is to save wear and tear (again, wouldn't be an issue if the items were made properly) on the original.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 28, 2002.