[mythtv-users] Possible to make a recording request?

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday 19 November 2008 09:37:21 VCRAddict wrote:
> At 08:00 AM 11/19/08 -0800, Steve Heistand wrote:
>  > >  > nor is it illegal to give someone a copy of such a recording.
>  > >
>  > > INcorrect.
>  > >
>  > > That crosses the line between "duplication" and "distribution", and
>  > > squarely violates the Copyright Act.
>  >
>  > it is perfectly legal to loan my long lost cousin a copy of a recording.
>
> No, it is NOT, unless *you* are the actual copyright holder of that
> material (i.e., your home movies of Aunt Mathilda's birthday party or
> similar).
>
> OTOH, if you go out and buy an *original* CD, DVD, whatever, then loan that
> same _original_distribution_media_ to your long-lost cousin, that's OK --
> provided that you have *not* made a copy of it for yourself first.  If he
> subsequently makes a copy of that program material before returning the
> original to you, then you're probably[1] still OK -- but *he* has violated
> copyright.
>
> In the case of broadcast material, the "original distribution media" is the
> broadcast itself, ephemeral as it is.  While it would require equipment
> outside the scope of this discussion list, it is actually possible to pass
> that on to someone else (or a lot of "someone else"s), in more-or-less real
> time (it's called "re-broadcasting"; and it is near-universally prohibited
> for commercial radio & TV signals).  So the *copy* of that "original
> distribution media" you make on your VCR, DVR MythTV box, whatever, is
> subject to the same restrictions (i.e., you may NOT distribute it) as a
> copy you make of a store-bought CD, DVD, etc.

I always thought it made no sense for outfits to spend millions, if not 
billions, of dollars in transmission facilities, and perhaps even the launch 
of spacecraft, in order to blast a program to as many people as possible, and 
then spend more money to complain that people are duplicating it and 
furthering the distribution.


-- 
beww
beww at beww.org