Re: Napster destroys Western Civilization

On Fri, 5 May 2000, David Hale <dhale[_at_]aggt.com> wrote:
>
> As a side note, it seems like an analogy to the time shift fair use
> might apply in the my.mp3 case of making cd's one already owns
> available remotely.

I don't agree that remote use would qualify as a "fair use". The mere fact that someone already owns a CD doesn't, by itself, qualify any subsequent copies as "fair use". I can buy one subscription to Newsweek, but in doing so, I am buying the right to THAT copy -- I am not buying the right to make reproductions.

With respect to time-shifting, I don't think that concept applies to remote availability of CDs one already owns. Time-shifting on VCRs was largely to allow people the opportunity to view a program (which was typically a network-produced program like a soap opera or sitcom which required no admission/permission fees) at a more conducive time than the time it was being broadcast. In those instances, absent a VCR, the individual would have NO access to the broadcast -- it wasn't available in a sale form. Such programs also weren't easily accessible then, and the courts have opined that the easier it is to obtain some legal usage of a product, the narrower the fair use latitude.

The distinction between time-shifting and the my.mp3 issue is this: if one is too lazy or finds it too bothersome to haul around CDs, fine -- there is a way around that. Buy two. In doing so, you are paying for the convenience of not having to lug them around. If there were some legitimate reason that buying two wasn't possible, that might make more of an argument for a fair-use application. But absent that -- nahhhhhhh.

I don't know where along the line it became accepted that paying for an item once entitled the payee the expectation not to have to pay for a reproduction again at some point. If I go to the theater today to view a movie, I cannot go back next week and expect to get into that same movie for free because I've already paid for it once. I cannot to go the restaurant down the street from me and expect to eat for free because I've already paid for a meal there once.

Marty Hayes
<9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> Received on Thu May 11 2000 - 20:02:04 GMT