[mythtv-users] DVD Ripping was: Zap2it Labs Shutting Down?
Robin Hill
myth at robinhill.me.uk
Wed Jun 20 14:33:56 UTC 2007
On Wed Jun 20, 2007 at 02:57:26PM +0100, David Campbell wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
> > Generally if you purchase a retail DVD drive it comes with software that
> > is licensed to play MPEG2, but it is Windows or Mac software. My
> > personal feeling is that since I paid for the license for that software,
> > I should be able to play the MPEG DVD legally, but I'm told that many
> > experts disagree with that position.
>
> Hate to take this important (for US people) thread more offline but can
> someone clarify the EU or UK position on ripping DVD's to disk?
>
Well, IANAL but my understanding of the UK position is that it is a
copyright violation to make any copy of the DVD (as there's no fair use
provisions at all under UK law) though some/all of the copyright cartels
(RIAA/MPAA equivalents - I forget who they are) have stated that they
won't prosecute for personal copies.
It is also a violation of the EUCD to break the CSS protection (though
there was a recent case in Finland which held the CSS protection not to
be effective so not covered by the EUCD - how this affects other
country's interpretations is still to be seen though).
On a more positive note, there is no patent protection on the MPEG2
codec in the UK (as software/process patents are still not legal) so there
shouldn't be anything (legally) stopping you playing non-protected DVD
discs on a Linux system.
I'd be absolutely astounded to see any case come to court on personal
copying in the UK anyway.
HTH,
Robin
--
___
( ' } | Robin Hill <myth at robinhill.me.uk> |
/ / ) | Little Jim says .... |
// !! | "He fallen in de water !!" |
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