From: jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Copyrights and piracy...
Date: 24 Jul 92 18:02:16 GMT
	<1992Jul23.174217.84@physc1.byu.edu>
Distribution: world
Organization: USC-ISI
In-reply-to: goblec@physc1.byu.edu's message of 24 Jul 92 02:32:41 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.174217.84@physc1.byu.edu> goblec@physc1.byu.edu writes:

>In article <21998@venera.isi.edu>, jas@ISI.EDU (Jeff Sullivan) writes:>>
>> 
>> However, if you had a Quicktime movie that was a whole episode, with
>> the same resolution as the TV show (if possible), then, yeah, Groening
>> would mind.  As would SAG, WGA, DGA, AFTRA, etc.
>
>How is this different from having a video tape with an episode of the Simpsons 
>or some othe TV program?  I imagine that 95% of all VCR's have been used to do
>just this.  In fact many people keep them.  I personally taped ever episode of
>Twin Peaks off the TV.  They are now available on VCR tapes.  Am I a pirate?
>Yet this is just what VCR are DESIGNED to do.  That is how they are marketed.
>Many pay TV stations specifically market their movies to be taped.

Technically, you can do what you want with the stuff you tape off of
your TV, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T DISTRIBUTE IT.  However, the odds of
your going through the trouble of creating a big old Simpsons QT movie
and not distributing it are slim.

Now, Simpsons is a complex issue because it is broadcast "freely" over
the air, but Gracie Productions owns the rights to it.  You can only
use their stuff in ways which does not violate their rights, and
distributing derivative works (the QT movie) is NOT legal.

A single sound byte is of questionable legality, when not governed
under "Fair Use," but would almost certainly escape prosecution.

>Likewise many people tape songs off the radio.  Many people sing songs in their
>cars on the way to work.  All of these are violations of the copyright laws
>JUST AS MUCH AS SOFTWARE PIRACY IS.  

Wrong.  Singing a song is not copyright violation, unless you are
PERFORMING it (for an audience).  Listening to your tape of a song off
the radio is legal, as long as you don't start selling your tapes.

The difference between this and software piracy is that software was
never "broadcast" on a public medium with the intent that you could
consume (use/watch/etc.) it "for free".  The only legal way to get
software is to buy it (possibly for nothing, if it is legally given to
you by a legal owner).

>I don't think piracy is right.  Not because of some moral grounds, but because
>if you use software you are better served if you have bought it.  It is
>entirely a pragmatic approach.  The solution to the problem is better service
>by the companies along with better manuals.

No, it is pragmatically a problem.  If people were to freely steal
software (and that's what piracy is, let's face it), then there is no
incentive for people to spend their effort and energy (and money) to
develop commercial software.  And if that happens, then the best
you'll find out there is freeware, which, if occasionally good, is
generally not so great.

When's the last time you saw a freeware Word or Nisus or PageMaker?

jas
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jeffrey A. Sullivan		| Research Scientist at small
jas@venera.isi.edu		| Information Sciences Institute
jas@isi.edu                    	| University of Southern California