Ripping music for iPods is not fair use - RIAA
Posted by Ianwoollam
Ripping music from CDs and transferring it to an iPod does not constitute fair use, according to a document filed by the major record companies.
In a filing to the US Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to undo a statement it made in court during the recent successful prosecution of the Grokster p2p company.
In court RIAA lawyer Don Verrilli said: 'The record companies have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod.'
However in the Copyright Office filing the RIAA takes a contrary view.
'Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization,' it argues. 'In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorisation, not about fair use.'
In other words, explained Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the EFF, a leading digital rights campaign organisation, if you want to copy a CD to your iPod, get permission first.
'If I understand what the RIAA is saying, "perfectly lawful" means "lawful until we change our mind", he
wrote in the EFF blog. 'So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?'
The RIAA filing will help to determine what are considered 'non-infringing' activities under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The law requires the US Copyright Office to set exemptions to the DMCA's stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) anti-copying technologies.
In addition to attempting to have CD copying to iPods outlawed, the RIAA also believes that making a back-up is outside the realms of fair usage.
'Similarly, creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use,' it stated, adding that, 'the fact remains that there is no general exception to allow back-up copying and thus no justification for allowing circumvention of access controls for this purpose.'
The EFF has declined to submit evidence this year, having done so in the previous two, because it believes 'the rule making process is simply too broken' and that consumers are simply being ignored.
'Where consumers are concerned, the Copyright Office discounts their concerns as "mere inconveniences", Lohmann explained. 'Copy-protected CDs are no problem because you can play them on CD players, even if they won't work in your computer. Where the copyright industries are concerned, in contrast, the Copyright Office presumes that DRM is the only thing that stands between them and financial ruin.'
[www.pcpro.co.uk]
Great! So now apparantly, even though I legally buy the music, I'm not allowed to load it onto my computer or MP3 Player! The RIAA are just turning into a complete joke now...
I'm glad all the Hed Kandi CD's I buy are from Hed Kandi's independant label, no money for RIAA gits from me!
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2006 11:38AM by Ianwoollam.
In a filing to the US Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to undo a statement it made in court during the recent successful prosecution of the Grokster p2p company.
In court RIAA lawyer Don Verrilli said: 'The record companies have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod.'
However in the Copyright Office filing the RIAA takes a contrary view.
'Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization,' it argues. 'In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorisation, not about fair use.'
In other words, explained Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the EFF, a leading digital rights campaign organisation, if you want to copy a CD to your iPod, get permission first.
'If I understand what the RIAA is saying, "perfectly lawful" means "lawful until we change our mind", he
wrote in the EFF blog. 'So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?'
The RIAA filing will help to determine what are considered 'non-infringing' activities under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The law requires the US Copyright Office to set exemptions to the DMCA's stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) anti-copying technologies.
In addition to attempting to have CD copying to iPods outlawed, the RIAA also believes that making a back-up is outside the realms of fair usage.
'Similarly, creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use,' it stated, adding that, 'the fact remains that there is no general exception to allow back-up copying and thus no justification for allowing circumvention of access controls for this purpose.'
The EFF has declined to submit evidence this year, having done so in the previous two, because it believes 'the rule making process is simply too broken' and that consumers are simply being ignored.
'Where consumers are concerned, the Copyright Office discounts their concerns as "mere inconveniences", Lohmann explained. 'Copy-protected CDs are no problem because you can play them on CD players, even if they won't work in your computer. Where the copyright industries are concerned, in contrast, the Copyright Office presumes that DRM is the only thing that stands between them and financial ruin.'
[www.pcpro.co.uk]
Great! So now apparantly, even though I legally buy the music, I'm not allowed to load it onto my computer or MP3 Player! The RIAA are just turning into a complete joke now...
I'm glad all the Hed Kandi CD's I buy are from Hed Kandi's independant label, no money for RIAA gits from me!
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2006 11:38AM by Ianwoollam.
RIAA: Shut up. Every person with an MP3 player in the flaming country does this.
K*bots UK, specialist providers of 'fun science' Curriculum Enhancement days for Primary and Secondary schools in Britain.
Please find us on [en.wikipedia.org] for more information.
I remember reading somewhere that the RIAA have their own tax on blank cds because they know what they're going to be used for.
They know what there being used for?
in the past year ive burnt one music cd and that was for my mom, Most people dont use there cd-r's to copy music discs
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in the past year ive burnt one music cd and that was for my mom, Most people dont use there cd-r's to copy music discs
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If music peopel really were THAT poor there would be no commercial pop, RIAA sounds a bit like a grumpy old man to me (yes THAT one 
)
)[www.magnetbox.com]
How handy
Looks like I'll have to boycott Daft Punk's releases in the future...
I see what they are trying to say with iPods tho, they want you to download from iTunes not rip the CD's but that isn't gonna work, theres no Hed Kandi stuff for instance on iTunes... its a complete and utter stupid theory which if by some miracle passes as a law, will have so many loopholes in it that it'll be like recording off TV law, not supposed to do it but the police don't give a rats ass if you do anyway.
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2006 06:50PM by Ianwoollam.
How handy
Looks like I'll have to boycott Daft Punk's releases in the future...I see what they are trying to say with iPods tho, they want you to download from iTunes not rip the CD's but that isn't gonna work, theres no Hed Kandi stuff for instance on iTunes... its a complete and utter stupid theory which if by some miracle passes as a law, will have so many loopholes in it that it'll be like recording off TV law, not supposed to do it but the police don't give a rats ass if you do anyway.
PSN/Xbox 360 ID - Ianwoollam
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2006 06:50PM by Ianwoollam.
Zcott Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember reading somewhere that the RIAA have
> their own tax on blank cds because they know what
> they're going to be used for.
>
This is why audio CDRs are more expensive over here - not because they are better, but because the GEMA (translated: Society for musical stage rights and rights of mechanical reproduction) gets its fair share of every blank CD sold.
REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS
-------------------------------------------------------
> I remember reading somewhere that the RIAA have
> their own tax on blank cds because they know what
> they're going to be used for.
>
This is why audio CDRs are more expensive over here - not because they are better, but because the GEMA (translated: Society for musical stage rights and rights of mechanical reproduction) gets its fair share of every blank CD sold.
REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS
Well i do not use CDs for music, i use them for data backup, so, i think i speak for many people when i say the RIAA can go f**k themselves
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so since it only states about the iPod on that article, does it mean that using a creative zen IS legal?
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