RE: [dvd-discuss] Slightly OT - Japanese copyrights

[Richard Hartman <hartman(at)onetouch.com>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Noah silva [mailto:nsilva@atari-source.com]
...
> 
> It also matches a lot of contracts I have seen, explicitly 
> saying that you
> have right to a backup, but all backups must be destroyed or
> transferred when the product is transferred.
> 
> let's go to something less clear:
> what about when there is no original copy?
> I pay to download it, I would think I can sell whatever I 
> downloaded on CD
> or whatever if I delete my copies... but what about....

Yes.  You paid for the work, you can transfer "title" as
long as all copies are either transferred to the new owner
or destroyed.

> 
> I record something from TV and sell it.  Is this legal?  

Not really.  The broadcaster retains copyright, so you can
not make a copy and sell it.  

>Well I got my
> "first sale" I guess when I watched it.  

See, I don't think there was a first sale transaction here.
The work you watched was not embedded in a physical medium,
it was broadcast.  The rules & restrictions are different.

In you first example (downloading) there is (by my viewpoint)
an "embedding in a physical medium" ... although you have to
stretch that a little bit to consider a .MP3 file to be a
physical embodyment.  I consider that the "virtual appearance"
of something should govern how the law treats it.  

As an example, think of usenet newsgroups.  At the implementation
level a message is copied from machine to machine to machine and
each act of copying requires an explicit authorization.  Otoh,
if you look at the "virtual model" you post once to a "location"
known as (for example) "comp.sys.palmtops".  Anybody with access
to this location can read it ... but they can't then take that
msg and republish it in their magazine.  That exists _outside_
the virtual locality of comp.sys.palmtops and would require
an _actual_ act of copying (as opposed to the implicit copying
that the implementation of the virtual space of comp.sys.palmtops
requires in order to appear as one "room" with myriad "windows"
into it.)

(Geez ... I hope that explanation was comprehensible ...)


The upshot is, I think the law is making misteaks right & left
when they delve into the technical.  Take these things at their
face value ... take them on their own terms.  comp.sys.palmtops
is a _single_ discussion forum, regardless of the dirty real-world
details of the implementation.


>How can I say I "own 
> a copy" of
> it, when there was no particular number of copies produced.  

Again, broadcast gets into different governance.  I think
you're on shakey ground selling a taped copy of a program.


> On the other
> hand, hoe can anyone yell at me for distributing something 
> that they mass
> distributed for free.

The thing is: they can.  Take those free newspapers.  The
publisher still has the right to determine their distribution
even though they are free.  




-- 
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi./sec ... not just a good idea, it's the LAW!