Lending a friend [or friends] a CD

Would anyone know whether I could be prosecuted for lending my work colleagues a CD I've bought to listen to, or prosecuted for burning a copy of the original and then LENDING, not giving, that copy to them ??.

Would like to set up a record club of sorts and don't know the answer. Help !!.

Paul

 

Probably
Bob

 

If your talking about lending amongst friends with no fees involved, I can't see the problem. If a friend copies a loaned CD, it is they who would be infringing copyright.

If you are thinking of doing it commercially however, you do need to look into the legal situation, though there must be some way of doing this legally as my local library loans CDs for £1 for a week.

Several years ago I was a member of a commercial mail order CD library, but it had to cease trading due to copyright legislation issues, so presumably this has either been resolved, or the legislation amended to be slightly less draconian.

HTH

JohnT

 

Lending for no fee is fine, burning a copy for any reason is illegal

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've rung the BPI and they've said that lending a CD to someone is fine, but copying isn't, as per Tom's reply.

Paul

 

Tom

I think your statement "burning a copy for any reason is illegal" is is an oversimplification, and not strictly true. It is my understanding that one can make a copy for one's own use (tape/CD copy for use in the car, say) as long as you own, and have therefore paid the copyright fee for the original.

CDs have something called SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) which allows domestic CD recorders of the twin deck variety to make first generation digital copies of a CD. In order to reduce pirate copying, the copying process sets a flag on the copy that prevents any further generation (digital) copies being made from it.

John

 

That's a commonly held belief but I'm fairly certain it's incorrect. Even making a copy for your own use of a CD you bought is, strictly speaking, illegal. Of course you're unlikely in the extreme to get prosecuted for it.

Michael.

 

CD recorders would be illegal devices as a result, which they aren't.

John summarized it well.

You can make as many copies as you like as long as you obtained the original source legally (through shop, library, loaning etc.) and copies made are used for strictly private purposes only, e.g. separate copies for each car, pc, bedroom etc are allowed.

By buying a blank CD, the purchaser pays a small sum to a copy-right organisation.

 

According to the Britsh Patent Office , which is the Government office that deals with Copyright, it is illegal to copy anything without a licence.

Can you point us in the direction of some legislation that states the above is true?

 

For those of you who might be interested here is the Act of Parliamnet covering copyright . So unless someone can show where the BPI or other members of the record industry have waived those rights I would err on the side of caution.

FWIW you can buy pipes to smoke dope in this country. Just because you can buy the equipment doesn't mean you may use it legally. VCRs are an odd point because you may legally recorded TV programmes for delayed viewing but how that is defined I'm not sure.

BTW the whole copyright law makes a mockery of any developments like the iPod

 

I have heard tell of folk in the US of A being bankrupted cos their 9 year old burnt a compilation to give to her friends at hyer birthday party due to the evil corporate folk.........but this could just be 21st century folklore.

Also my mate has a marantz CD copier, it wont use normal off the spindle disks, he has to buy special more expensive ones, apparently they are more expensive as some manner of payola is made to the starving Artistes, producers and record company execs (Paul Mccartney, Pete Waterman and Crhis Blackwell spring to mind as examples who could use a bit more cash

S

 

US law is different, but there was a case last year where a 12 year old was prosecuted for having downloaded music from the internet. The record companies also bought out a suit trying to stop electronics companies from developing new recording devices, this got thrown out but the salient point is that the record companies would rather we bought a licence for every format and don't seem keen to embrace the way their customers want to listen to the music.

 

No, as Tom pointed out, just because you can do something illegal with a device doesn't make the device itself illegal. Tom has given the relevant links to the Patent Office and the act of parliament covering the issue and it's quite clear: it's illegal to make a copy of a CD even for personal use. It is, strictly speaking, illegal to rip your CDs to your harddrive or iPod, or make copies for using in the car.

OTOH as I've already said, you can be virtually certain that no one will ever get prosecuted for doing so.

Michael.

 

The only persons being actively pursued currently by the RIAA or BPI would seem to be those indulging in repetitive acts of file sharing and copying,especially where financial gain is involved.

There is however,no doubt that both bodies are becoming considerably more aggressive in their stances with respect to copying in general,and also with respect to DRM in general.

 

Apologies Michael, as I'm appearently speaking from a Dutch perspective only. Guess that British composers have covered their interests well.

As much worth as stating that guns can be bought to empty them out.

Manufacturers and recording industry collectively agreed with the SCMS mechanics before the first units got launched. Since then I've stumbled on recorder reviews in (British) audio mags, so I assumed that the same rules would, at least more or less, apply to copying practices in different countries. Still think that british composers covered their interests well.

 

Sorry Erik, I hadn't realised you weren't in the UK. It's not so much that the composers have things covered but rather the record companies. I'm hoping that the legislation will be standardised across the EU and with the lenient aspect taking the main thrust.

 

I have just bought an internal DVD rewriter, so far everything I have done with it has been totaly legal, all the things I have burn't I have filmed and produced myself.

 

Well done AT, you get a gold star

 

So we're breaking the law with our iPods then, I baggsie the top bunk bed in Wormwood Scrubs Michael

 

Tom is dead right on this. In the UK there is no levy on recordable media to cover copyright.

Bob