[mythtv-users] Legality of selling MythTV and its Components?

Dewey Smolka dsmolka at gmail.com
Tue May 2 18:30:11 UTC 2006


>
> 1) Including DVD ripping software is illegal.
> 2) Including DVD playback program is illegal.

Not necessarily. It's only illegal (AFAIK) if you include libdecss.

I would think a definite (and definitely legal) selling point would
the ability to digitally capture and store via ripping home movies
from a DVD camcorder, which would involve ripping unencrypted content
of which the user has absolute ownership.

> 3) Including any ROM images for video games (for MythGame) that are not
> owned by me is illegal.

No. I think it would be illegal to include any ROMs at all, unless
they're GPLed or you have the right to distribute them. If you own the
SNES cartridge for Mario Kart, for example, you can legally run it in
an emulator. You can also sell the cartridge to me, in which case you
no longer own it and no longer have the right to run it in an
emulator. You do not have the right to sell me (or even give me) a ROM
image by itself.

> Other than these points, are there any other legal issues that I should be
> aware of when planning on selling preconfigured MythTV boxes?

One tricky question is the zap2it guide data, at least if you're in
the US. This is provided free of charge by Tribune Media Services, but
only for personal, non-commercial use. I don't have the license in
front of me, but from what I recall of it, you can't sell the data and
you can't imply that the data is somehow part of the deal. The
listings belong to TMS and are not yours to give away.

I think you'd be on shakey ground even pre-configuring a machine with
data -- the end user would have to set up their own subscription and
populate their own database, otherwise your use of labs.zap2it is
neither personal nor non-commercial.


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