[mythtv-users] "Excellent" transcode isn't so excellent

[Richard Freeman]

Brad DerManouelian wrote:
> On Oct 28, 2006, at 6:58 AM, Richard Freeman wrote:
>> Actually, copyright law is generally interpreted in terms of 
>> ownership. If you buy a movie at Walmart you OWN it.  You do NOT
>> have the right to distribute copies of it, but you otherwise have
>> all the rights associated with the ownership of a physical
>> object...
> 
> Actually, you don't own the movie. You own the piece of plastic the
>  movie is on.
> 

Ok, just so we're not just going back and forth I'll give a citation:
Novell v. Network Trade Center 25 F. Supp. 2d 1218 (C.D. Utah 1997):

> This Court holds that transactions making up the distribution chain
> from Novell through NTC to the end-user are ''sales'' governed by the
> U.C.C. Therefore, the first sale doctrine applies. It follows that
> the purchaser is an ''owner'' by way of sale and is entitled to the
> use and enjoyment of the software with the same rights as exist in
> the purchase of any other good. Said software transactions do not
> merely constitute the sale of a license to use the software. The
> shrinkwrap license included with the software is therefore invalid as
> against such a purchaser insofar as it purports to maintain title to
> the software in the copyright owner.


So, you do own more than just the right to use a copyrighted work - you
own what you bought, you are just prohibited by law from making copies
of it.