Is it legal....

[fsuorange]

Is it okay to give a friend of mine a tv program that I recorded on vhs and then copied to dvd-r. It would be a gift and I wouldn't get a profit.

[bugster]

It might help if we knew which countries Laws we were talking about, but IMHO, probably not.
Would you ever get prosecuted for it? Again, probably not.

[smearbrick1]

Isn't the question "Is it legal?" kind of a relative question. I mean, one could say that murder is only illegal if there is sufficient evidence to support such an act, or if you are prosecuted for said act. Does anyone know you are doing this, besides the thousands of people who just read your post? Probably not. Does anyone care? Probably not. Will you feel bad about in the morning? That's for you to decide. What it all boils down to is this: do you feel a moral obligation to stick to the letter of the law? Do you have agents of law enforcement frequently visiting your house and going through your stuff?

If you answered 'no' to the above questions. I think you'll be safe.

[smearbrick1]

Disclaimer:

I do not, have not, and never will (to the best of knowledge, that is) committed the aforemented crime of murder, and am therefore not condoning the act of, thought of, conjuring of, hiring of, or fantasy of said crime.

[Gazorgan]

It's not legal in the US to do that. It's doubley illegal if it's been edited from it's original airing (commercials cuttout). If it was legal, then you could capture movies and freely distribute them, which defeats the purpose of any copyright.

[fsuorange]

but im not making mutiple copies of it. Im only making one and one only to a friend who missed the program. I don't see how this is not legal if Im only copying it once and giving it to a friend without charge.

[glenrey]

Is it legal? I say yes.

[Gazorgan]

It's not fair use. You are depriving the TV station of revenue(even cable TV channels are payed for in a variety of ways). You can keep a copy for your own use, but you can't give it to a friend.

Using your logic, I can freely capture and distribute The Soprano's or Sex in the City (Both premium cable TV channel only shows). The same for Pay-Per-View TV shows like wrestling or Movies.

[big8ptbuck]

Legal or Not! Check out eBay. There are millions of auctions offering TV shows that were recorded to VHS, DVD-r.

[smearbrick1]

Do you feel bad about doing it? Probably not.

Are you going to get caught? Probably not.

Just do it.

[spiderman2k1]

It's not fair use. You are depriving the TV station of revenue(even cable TV channels are payed for in a variety of ways). You can keep a copy for your own use, but you can't give it to a friend.

Using your logic, I can freely capture and distribute The Soprano's or Sex in the City (Both premium cable TV channel only shows). The same for Pay-Per-View TV shows like wrestling or Movies.

When you get a WWE PPR WWE say's you are not allowed to record it. When I saw it I would not stop LOL.

[Gazorgan]

If E-Bay stopped all illegal activities it would go out of business. The 'grey market' is the difference between profitablility and another washed up dot.com company. There is an amazing amount of stolen stuff on E-Bay. But proving it is hard until you recieve the goods, and don't mind being out the $$$ you paid for it....

[noki]

how's this for a twist...
fsuorange is giving his friend something he has done legally (time-shift recording) and has transfrred it to another media (type). this friend could have legally done this himself (time-shift recording). Last i heard it is not illegal to use your vcr to record off the air.
so fsuorange go for it.

[andkiich]

I think the key element here is "his own personal usage" regarding the timeshifting.

If he is timeshifting it for his friend, then it "should" be legal to time shift it for millions of others, which it is not, AFAIK.

[fritzi93]

If your conscience bothers you, consider this: There are basically two types of proscriptive law. The first is Malum In Se, or something made illegal because it is bad in and of itself, e.g. murder. The second is Malum Prohibitum, something made illegal because someone has been able to convince the government it serves some social good, e.g. alcohol prohibition in the thirties here in the U.S.A. We know how well THAT was obeyed.

I tend to think your situation is an instance of the second kind of law. My own conscience wouldn't be a bit bothered. Are you depriving the author/owner of revenue or in some other way causing harm? No? Then go ahead.

[fritzi93]

Pardon me. Translation:

Malum In Se: Illegal 'cuz it's bad.

Malum Prohibitum: Illegal 'cuz we say so.

[Gazorgan]

You are depriving the Author of income. That's the cruxt of the matter. The original question was "Is it legal" and the Answer is no.

Now does everyone do it? Probably more than a majority.
Is he going to get busted? Vitual impossibility (by just giving it to a friend).

It's kinda like doing 71 MPH in a 65 zone. Legal? No. Is everyone doing it? Yes. Can you get busted, maybe.......

[webeye]

It's ill advised and ill eagle to give to a friend....so I just loan it and say"it's my personal backup copy.. return it when you think of it" :P
It's all in the wording.......however there is the 'spirit of the law' court uttering.

[duhmez]

it depends on your contries laws 100%. It is not global. For example., over here in Canada, we call it "private copying" and it is legal to copy for non profit proivate use, and it is legal to LEND the copy to a friend. the friend could legaly copy it too. if however, you copy it and give the copy to friend to keep, it is illegal.
To be legal you must say it's yours and you are letting him borrow it... in Canada.
the U.S. is anothe rmater: they are still in dark ages over there with respect to copyright laws.

the reason copyright was invented was to "encourage creative works", not to stop the private copying of said works.

So to wrap up, under current canadian copyright law, if you make the dvd and say "here is your copy" you are breaking the law due to illegal distribution.

[grossjamesh]

A quick check and analysis of several law resources reveals the following: You may copy for your own non-commerical use anything delivered into your home. You may not distribute what you have copied to anyone for any reason. If you wish to distribute what you copied you must obtain permission from the producer of each piece of copywrited material and the broadcaster who aired the segments. Fair Use is not an issue in cases of this sort. The case law on this goes all the way back to the 1933 telecommunications act. Applies only to the U.S.
Therefore, you may not take the material out of your home. You may invite as many friends as you wish to view the material in your home.

[housepig]

A quick check and analysis of several law resources reveals the following....

grossjamessh -

can you cite some specific case law? I'm really rusty on my legal research skills, and I have been looking for specific citations of relevance, other than the concept of "Fair Use".

any info, and especially any online resources for further research, would be great.

[grossjamesh]

Use FINDLAW. Search home video recording, copywrite infringement,
telecommunications act, fair use, broadcasters rights.
It will take about an hour of reading. When I did the search I was in the US Supreme Court section.
I just read and didnt write down the citations.

[AarontheRipper]

Okay, my question regarding this issue is is it illegal if your friend subscribes to the same cable or sat service that you have and therefore could have watched the program or recorded it himself if he had been available at the time? Regardless of whether it is legal or not, I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty about recording an episode of 24 for a friend who was at a child's chior recital and therefore unable to watch it when he has also paid for the ability to watch the program/time-shift.

[jpconard]

If you record the commercials, I say yes. But what I say doesn't really matter. I think the whole thing is a crock and somebody should define some simple rules that everybody understands. But then we wouldn't need lawyers and we would be too much like straight-forward countries European, and Canada.

Look at education, they have a whole different set of rules. They can legally rent movies and play them to an audience (students), can legally photo-copy books and distribute.

Too many grey lines.

[jpconard]

If you record the commercials, I say yes. But what I say doesn't really matter. I think the whole thing is a crock and somebody should define some simple rules that everybody understands. But then we wouldn't need lawyers and we would be too much like straight-forward countries European, and Canada.

Look at education, they have a whole different set of rules. They can legally rent movies and play them to an audience (students), can legally photo-copy books and distribute.

Too many grey lines.

[eyequit]

Let's hope first that your friend would not turn you in. You only talking one time.

Then I would think if it does not have the copywrite warning aired, I would think it to be fair game, or the vcr/dvd manufactures would live in court.

Just do it

[jtommyj]

Can't believe you opened up this can of worms here.
Just do it before all the holier than thou try to get your IP and then get you thrown in prison by the Dream police for giving a buddy the Victorias Secret special (don't say it's anything else, I know no one records Fox News Report).

The way I feel about leaving the commercials out is that the same companies probably force feed it down my throat with pop-ups and spam anyway, not to mention subliminal freekin' messages when I'm at the movie theatre. The damn movie looks like a commercial half the time.

They get their word out and I don't HAVE an option at the theatre to cut out the open bottle of a certain soft drink that is paying the movie production company x amount of dollars to use their product.

Used to be in the movies you'd see "Cola" on the side of a bottle or "Beer" or "Tissue" or "Gasoline" . Now we see Pepsi or Coke or Miller or Coors or Kleenex or Amoco or BP.

My sympathy isn't there for them anymore. Or the movie companies for that matter. Piracy? Have you been to a movie lately and seen the 5 minute little guilt trip and scare they try to throw at the non-techie Dad whose son just copied his version of LOTR because his little sister scratched the last one but they use the poor grip who is making x bucs an hour while Tom Cruise just got 25 million ? Hey Tom, split the pot, OK ?

No one like to give it away but how much can you really spend.

[webeye]

Webeye is CDN....and is somewhat aware of CDN copyright laws... clarity certainly better than US laws.....US laws very confusing. Hollywood is very afraid and perhaps they have a right to be.....reason that US laws not clearer.

[.....]Therefore, you may not take the material out of your home. You may invite as many friends as you wish to view the material in your home.

My response.....let your friends remove 'the material' from your home....without your knowledge (look the other way). I guess they could be charged for theft

VHS users have been recording TV programs for years......no one has made a big deal of it....unless you are making a biz of it......but DVD dupes are scaring the hell out of Hollywood....bits and bytes....good quality everytime....over the net and under the net...if you get my drift.