Copyright Again

Johnboy1951

I have gone through this board in so far as I can to get some clarity on the situation around copyright law and the individual who is not breaching copyright for the purpose of distribution or sale ..... in other words copying as a backup in case of media damage.

Following are some simple statements which I believe to be true based on the information I have gathered from this board.

I would appreciate comments and/or corrections to my understanding, thank you.

***

1. It is common for people to make back up copies of purchased DVDs/CDs/Vinyl_Records/Cassette_Tapes, but this is in breach of Irish copyright law, regardless the copies were made as backups to legally purchased goods.

2. There has been no case taken against an individual who made such copies for personal use (prevention of loss due to media damage), in the Irish courts, and thus no conviction for so copying.

3. In the above scenario, a domestic environment (copies not for sale or distribution etc), it is not illegal to be in possession of DVDs which have been copied in breach of copyright law.


4. Should a legal search of your home find such DVDs they can be confiscated as 'illegal goods' under the copyright act, but you, the home owner would not face charges.


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Manach

For the first point, leaving aside the broader US fair usage, I reckon it depends on the Digital Rights Management (DRM) in place and how much the EU's fair dealing would be relevant. If the digital material was DRM-free (eg like some books on Amazon) then it would be irrelevant in what format they are stored in, for they are for personal use in the fair dealing private study/backup use. Many EU countries de facto fund this by applying a levy on material such as DVD-RWs.

As well there was a recent European ruling which allows entities like Libraries to digitise/backup for use material even without prior permission of the rights holder. This I'm presuming means that individuals backups should be covered as well?

I think also there was a report earlier this year which aims to modernise Copyright law in light of IT advances which was given to the relevant Minister.

the world wonders

Backup copies seem to be ok specifically for computer programs:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/act/pub/0028/sec0080.html#sec80
80.—(1) It is not an infringement of the copyright in a computer program for a lawful user of a copy of the computer program to make a back-up copy of it which it is necessary for him or her to have for the purposes of his or her lawful use.

However there does not seem to be a similar exception for audio or audiovisual works.

Johnboy1951

So it seems that there is agreement with the four points I made above?

Thanks for reading.

Mr. Incognito

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I have gone through this board in so far as I can to get some clarity on the situation around copyright law and the individual who is not breaching copyright for the purpose of distribution or sale ..... in other words copying as a backup in case of media damage.

Following are some simple statements which I believe to be true based on the information I have gathered from this board.

I would appreciate comments and/or corrections to my understanding, thank you.

***

1. It is common for people to make back up copies of purchased DVDs/CDs/Vinyl_Records/Cassette_Tapes, but this is in breach of Irish copyright law, regardless the copies were made as backups to legally purchased goods.

2. There has been no case taken against an individual who made such copies for personal use (prevention of loss due to media damage), in the Irish courts, and thus no conviction for so copying.

3. In the above scenario, a domestic environment (copies not for sale or distribution etc), it is not illegal to be in possession of DVDs which have been copied in breach of copyright law.


4. Should a legal search of your home find such DVDs they can be confiscated as 'illegal goods' under the copyright act, but you, the home owner would not face charges.


****

These are not four separate points so there is not need to present it as such.

Your point is why has there not been a case against someone who bought something for their own use and copies it for their own use. I think that is self explanatory.

So in summary

1. No- It is not illegal to make copies for personal use.
2. No- because it is not illegal
3. See points 1 and 2
4.No- there would be no confiscation as no law has been broken

Johnboy1951

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

These are not four separate points so there is not need to present it as such.

Your point is why has there not been a case against someone who bought something for their own use and copies it for their own use. I think that is self explanatory.

So in summary

1. No- It is not illegal to make copies for personal use.
2. No- because it is not illegal
3. See points 1 and 2
4.No- there would be no confiscation as no law has been broken

Everything above hinges on your answer to point 1.
I do not believe you are correct, but I would love to have you change my mind.

I base my opinion on
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/act/pub/0028/print.html#sec37

where it says, amongst other things

the owner of the copyright in a work has the exclusive right to undertake or authorise others to undertake all or any of the following acts, namely:

(a) to copy the work;

and

(2) The copyright in a work is infringed by a person who without the licence of the copyright owner undertakes, or authorises another to undertake, any of the acts restricted by copyright.

If there is somewhere I have not yet accessed, an exception for copying a copyrighted work for a personal backup for safe keeping, then please let me know about it.

I am aware of some exceptions for computer software, but this thread is not about software.


My 3. above is covered by 45 of the act.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/act/pub/0028/print.html#sec45

Nowhere is possession of a personal copy, an infringement.
If the copy is loaned to a friend then that is contrary to sect 45.

Secondary infringement: dealing with infringing copy.

45.—A person infringes the copyright in a work where he or she without the licence of the copyright owner—

(a) sells, rents or lends, or offers or exposes for sale, rental or loan,

(b) imports into the State, otherwise than for his or her private and domestic use,

(c) in the course of a business, trade or profession, has in his or her possession, custody or control, or makes available to the public, or

(d) otherwise than in the course of a business, trade or profession, makes available to the public to such an extent as to prejudice the interests of the owner of the copyright,

a copy of the work which is, and which he or she knows or has reason to believe is, an infringing copy of the work.

As I said above, there might be exceptions that I am presently unaware of, and if so I would love to be pointed to them.

Thank you for taking an interest in this.

EDIT:

PDF of

COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS ACT, 2000

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/pdf/2000/en.act.2000.0028.pdf