DVD Coping Legal Issues Question?

[steve25523]

Hi to everyone.

I had a question about Legal and Illegal issues about coping DVD and VHS movies.

A friend of mine wants me to make dvd backups for him and to also convert his VHS movies to DVD. Is this Legal to do or will I get into trouble if I do this for him?

I told him that I'll charge him only $5.00 per movie just to cover the cost of disc and my time.

Can I do this without getting into trouble?

P.S. I hope this is the right place to post this question, if not I'm sorry I just didn't see a place for something like this.

[Headbanger's Ball]

I don't see it being legal but I don't see you getting caught either. If you want to help a friend and he pays expenses; don't sweat it. However, if you put an ad in the local paper for $5 backups...expect to retain a lawyer.

[yoda313]

Yeah if you're just covering media expenses I don't see you'll be in any trouble. Just don't try to make a profit in it and don't tell everyone and anyone you'll do it. Be select. And also if the friend tries to take advantage of you're genorosity and you don't want to do it anymore tell them to get a dvd burner themselves - you can get them for less than $50 after rebates these days...

[maca]

My understanding is that anyone has the right to backup their own video collection onto dvd. The fact that you're doing it for a friend shouldn't make it illegal; sounds like it's his stuff to begin with.

For example, I own all the Honeymooners episodes on vhs, which I paid a lot of money for. I recently put them all on dvd, and I'm sure that didn't break any law. After all, the tapes were mine, bought and paid for, so I should have the right to put them in another format for my own convenience.

[steve25523]

Maca

thats what I thought, but other people are saying that I can't do that because on copyright laws. So I'm not sure if I can or can't.

[VegasBud]

Adam is the resident guru on legal matters at this site, and he has repeatedly pointed out in great detail that you have no specific legal right to backup your dvds. I know it doesn't sound fair, but that's what the law says (combined with what the laws don't say).

That said, I would guess that most of the people in these forums (probably even Adam) are backing up their own dvds. But since you're talking about doing it for a someone else, and money changing hands, you may want to follow Yoda's advice and just have him get his own burner, and maybe show him how to do it himself.

I agree with Headbanger that your risk of getting into trouble is very low in this circumstance, but to answer your question - no, it isn't legal.

[Sabro]

You might want to talk to anyone that's 'knowlegable' in the wal*mart photo dept as from my understanding they will not convert anything commerical to dvd format.

Prolly some hidden loophole or another that they know about as they would be providing the same 'service' as you would be for your friend.

Sabro

[beric3236]

You probably can backup those tapes. The problem will become if you try to get around any copy protection scheme they put on the tape to prevent you from copying it. That is illegal. Good luck in finding your answers.