said by Nightfall:

The way you motivate people who break the law like this is with fines and court costs. The fines obviously going back to the person who has the rights to the property.

There is no "bright line" test that can tell if a particular use would be considered "fair," but the Copyright Act lists particular activities generally considered fair (this list is not to be construed as exclusive or limiting in any way). Some examples of uses listed in the statute that would generally be considered a fair use to copy copyrighted material include: Criticism, comment, parody, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, research, or personal use such as time or format shifting.

said by 67845017:

The original hypothetical made mention of transferring the created DVDs to a friend. If only for personal or family viewing, then I think there's no question it's covered under Sony.

said by 67845017:

As for the third factor, you are time shifting an entire season at once and then placing all the episodes together on one or more disks. This would seem to go against a finding of fair use.

Finally, and probably most importantly, is your copy affecting the potential market for the work. Things to consider include whether your copy is as good as the originals. In this case yes--and even more so--because there are no commercials in the copy you made. The whole season without commercials would seem to compete for sales by the studio of their likely future DVD pack of the season of Lost. On the other hand, you aren’t widely distributing the materials and you aren’t posting it on line. Still, an argument can be made that you are causing a potential sale of a DVD set from the copyright holder to not be sold. I think you likely wouldn’t be able to get a finding of fair use.

said by 67845017:

As for the third factor, you are time shifting an entire season at once and then placing all the episodes together on one or more disks. This would seem to go against a finding of fair use.

Finally, and probably most importantly, is your copy affecting the potential market for the work. Things to consider include whether your copy is as good as the originals. In this case yes--and even more so--because there are no commercials in the copy you made. The whole season without commercials would seem to compete for sales by the studio of their likely future DVD pack of the season of Lost. On the other hand, you aren’t widely distributing the materials and you aren’t posting it on line. Still, an argument can be made that you are causing a potential sale of a DVD set from the copyright holder to not be sold. I think you likely wouldn’t be able to get a finding of fair use.

said by cableties:

My employer once justified theft of software. He felt it was silly to be charged thousands of dollars for applications that would not generate the same revenue in return.

I politely suggested that he purchase it, over time, as one day, he will be audited by some disgruntled employee's complaint to the BSA.

He is now in compliance.

said by kamm:

Except that DMCA wasn't stopped by any US court and it went to effect, giving legal backing for the industry parasites to be able to effectively make it impossible to create personal copies (DVD), first time in history.

Good post.

For that matter, isn't there a small surcharge built into the cost of blank CD/DVD media to pay copyright holders as a general group?

said by hopeflicker:

then can you answer my question regarding my previous statement?
"Consider this:

You build your own DVR (or PVR). You record an episode of "LOST", you remove all of the commercials and give it to a friend.
In fact, you recorded the entire season and gave it to a friend commercial free.

So the only thing different here is that the video signal went through your cable box and not your cable modem.

is this legal?"

Why does DRM exist in the first place?

Illegal downloads. :uhh:

AllofMP3.com is nothing more than an illegal site operating under some antiquated Russian law that Putin will crack down on when the time is right.

said by rachelsfx:

Pay like your parents did. :uhh:

said by Fatal Vector:

I'm sure the video police are going to come after you if you and your friends watch Star Wars some sunday afternoon. Getting just a little but dumb now, aren't we?

Personal copies have been legal since VCR's and before with Cassettes. The industry has tried this with every new recording format and have been consistently stopped by the supreme court.

The bottom line fact is that the industry cannot possibly win, no matter what they do. The ability to copy is far too widespread. Call it what you will: piracy, theft, copyright infringement. Most people dont give a damn. they will make a copy because it is convenient and to tear up instead of the original. It's called fair use and they aren't goint to worry about it.

And, some will grab all they can and spread the wealth around. Pardon me if I feel no compassion for the industry and their endless greed.

said by hopeflicker:

You build your own DVR (or PVR).

said by hopeflicker:

You record an episode of "LOST",

said by hopeflicker:

you remove all of the commercials

said by hopeflicker:

In fact, you recorded the entire season

said by hopeflicker:

and give it to a friend.

said by hopeflicker:

and gave it to a friend commercial free.

The bottom line fact is that the industry cannot possibly win, no matter what they do. The ability to copy is far too widespread. Call it what you will: piracy, theft, copyright infringement. Most people dont give a damn. they will make a copy because it is convenient and to tear up instead of the original. It's called fair use and they aren't goint to worry about it.

And, some will grab all they can and spread the wealth around. Pardon me if I feel no compassion for the industry and their endless greed.

said by kamm:

Umm but they do go after the downloader. :hmm: :huh:

said by 67845017:

I'm an IP lawyer, but on BBR people don't want to hear from lawyers. Blind (willful?) ignorance seems to be easier to live with for some people . . .