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





> -----Original Message-----
> From: Richard Hartman [mailto:hartman@onetouch.com]
> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2002 2:13 PM
> To: 'dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu'
> Subject: RE: [dvd-discuss] Slightly OT - Japanese copyrights
> 
> Now there you got me.  I suppose an argument could be made
> that the original is the physical embodyment of the "right
> to use" that you have been granted, and that if it is destroyed
> it's like if your car is destroyed: you have to buy a new
> one.  Even your MD copy would no longer be legitimate (although
> you could probably keep it and no one would know or care) ... but
> selling it would be right out.
> 
Well -- but you had every right to make a copy of your car and 
continue using that after the original was destroyed. Though, I
think patent law would prevent you from selling a copy of a 
chevy.

Now, I lost about 60 CDs a few years ago -- I think they just
got packed off somewhere, but can't find them. I had ripped most
of them to MP3 and don't feel bad keeping the MP3s around for my
use, nor do I feel that it is in any illegal for me to possess them.
They are fair use copies, and I never transfered the original to 
another person.

The thought that this might fail if the originals were stolen from
me seems to be eliminated by the fact that the thief gained no
title to the stolen copies. Even if they were stolen, pawned, purchased,
resold to a used music store ... I still retain my rights to that copy.
(Of course the purchaser of that copy might also feel the same way,
but would be unjustified, legally.)

and while it's on my mind -- not quite related...
What does the law say about taxing a licensing fee -- does sales tax
apply? If not, could one go buy a copy of WinXP, then take the store 
to court for charging sales tax on a licensing fee and force the state
to declare that it was a sale and not a licensing transaction? (Or the
other way around, in which case the person could get their sales tax
back.)

-Charlie