[mythtv-users] Is it legal to archive and collect episodes?

[Brad Templeton]

On Fri, Mar 04, 2005 at 03:42:01PM -0500, sschaefer1 at woh.rr.com wrote:
> Is it legal to archive and collect episodes?
> 
> I've read alot of references that it is and that it isn't, legal.
> I can see how we have fair use to record a show for our personal use, but doesn't collecting episodes go beyond that? Especially when the same series is retailed on DVD...
> 
> I guess, vice versa, if we have the right to record/collect, then the retails DVD they are only marketing the convenience of the whole set on DVD and bonus content that may come with them.

Perhaps the answer will become more clear when we go before the Supreme
Court on a case over updating the Betamax decision on the 29th.

(Or rather, when they rule.)

You won't find the exact answer to your question in the Betamax Decision

    http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=464&invol=417

But you will find some hints.  In this case, the justices ruled that
time-shifting programs was a fair use, not a copyright infringement.

It is somewhat accepted that once you have made a recording in that
fashion, you could change your mind and keep it, or do any number of
other first-sale-rights actions with it.

This gets messy.   For example, if I record a show to watch later, and
then should happen to sell the MythBox with the recording on it, that
seems legal.   Deliberately recording tapes just so I can sell them smells
illegal.

Recording for the express purpose of building an archive?  Interesting
question.

The Sony ruling is both narrower than many people believe, and wider than
the MPAA and RIAA believes.