Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm afraid your logic eludes me. Can you explain how taking a copyrighted work for free can possibly be considered "fair use"? In what way is it fair for you to take my software without paying?
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In The Netherlands, it's the same with regard to downloading media. We pay taxes / fees (heffingen) on empty CD's, tapes, hard drives, and so on. Therefore we're allowed to make copies of any media (CD's, DVD's, tapes, e-books, etc...) for our own use; so it's fully legal to buy a CD, and then make a copy for your bedroom, kitchen, rip it for your MP3-player and mediacenter, and make a copy for each of your 87 cars.
The law makers have decided that you can obtain that copy in any way you want, even by downloading the material. Because of that, downloading is (still) legal. It is assumed that you do own at least one original, in some way or another. I think it's actually legal to buy a CD, copy it, and then sell the original, keeping the copy yourself. But, IANAL. I don't know this for sure.
However, software is explicitly excluded from all of this. It is illegal to upload or download software for which you do not have the rights to do that. You are allowed to copy it as a backup and/or for your own use, but you're not allowed to obtain the copy through downloading. (Except of course if we're talking about software that's explicitly free; freeware, open source stuff from SourceForge, and so on.)