Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
But there is a law - the Copyright Act of 1976 - which essentially says "you can't make copies without the permission of the copyright holder". Unless that has a specific exemption for making copies for personal use, doesn't that mean that such an activity is "explicitly banned by law"?
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Betamax case came later (1984) and established that personal use copies are fair use.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_...y_Studios,_Inc.
Like I said, US law doesn't work by granting specific permissions but by banning specific cases, (after the fact) In 1976, making copies meant xerography or illegal printings, not scanning and OCR. You can't ban (or regulate) what doesn't exist. Technology outpacing existing laws and regulation is common and beneficial because the lawyers and politicians don't get in the way of the enginers until after the new tech is proven viable. ("Land of the free" isn't just anthem poetry, it is a legal fact.
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That was one reason for the DMCA law, to extend legal coverage to the Digital Domain that until then was only covered by contract law and licenses.
It works the same way with contracts, which is why old publishing contracts don't cover digital rights.
http://itlaw.wikia.com/wiki/Random_H..._Rosetta_Books