Been pondering this with some work colleagues.....

If you own a legitimate copy of a film on video (VHS) is it illegal to download a "free" copy from the web and have it on your computer or burn it onto a DVD?

The way I see it it's no different from copying a purchased CD so you can have one copy in the house and one copy in the car. But then I don't know whether that is technically legal or not?

What say you?

I think its legal as long as your doing it for backup purposes. . . .

I would have thought technically illegal

[Edited on 01.02.2007 by Humbug]

Producing a backup copy of a CD/DVD that you have purchased legitemately is perfectly legal, as long as you retain the original.
My youngest sorted this out with the Performing Rights people when he was a DJ, as he only took backup copies out on the road, in case they got nicked.
Not too sure about what you are proposing. Why not ask the relevant body?
I have to say IMHO it should be the same as copying a DVD for backup.

[Edited on 1/2/07 by Confused but excited.]

Technically illegal to break the copyright. A backup is a very grey area IMHO.

Another aspect to this debate that's under discussion is digital music.....

For example, I have ripped all my CD's into WMA music files and now have nearly 200Gb on a stand alone USB hard drive. My plan is to buy a networked hard drive, copy them onto it and then stream music to various stereos around the house. The stand alone hard drive will be left connected to the networked hard drive and act as a "backup" drive.

I know that all the music on the hard drives was paid for legitimately and at the moment I still have all the CDs to prove it. What if I decide to get rid of all the CDs?

At the end of the day I'm not one for cheating people out of their royalties and profits etc and I'm also not worried about anyone questioning what I'm doing, but I do find it interesting as it seems to be quite a grey area and difficult to police too.

Strictly, making a copy of a CD to have one in the home and one in the car is illegal - if you need 2 copies, buy 2 copies. However, generally the PR Society etc will turn a blind eye if the copy is for your own use but I think they would get sniffy about you making copies for professional purposes as a DJ even as backups.

As said - it's a grey area -not because the law is imprecise but because of the difficulty of enforcing it.

I had one of my cars stolen. In the car was my CD Changer with genuine CD's, some of them I can not get either legally or illegally.

I do not and have not carried ANY genuine CD's in my cars for years for this very reason.

Steve

You should see what students get up to.....400GB+ of videos and music downloaded illegally is common place! I shouldn't worry too much!

Unlike the US we don't have fair usage rights. Strictly copying your CDs to an MP3 player is illegal. Even recording a program off the TV is only allowed for "time shifting" purposes, i.e. to watch shortly after then erase.

Its pretty poo and there are moves for this to be made more lax. In the mean time the record companies seem to be turning a blind eye.... then attempt installing a root kit to fsk up your PC. Some record lables do permit and even provide reduced quality digital file on the audio CDs for copying to PC/MP3 player.

No it is not legal, as the licencsing for VHS and dvd may lie with different people and the licensing fees paid may be different..

But real question is, who cares..

the relevant authority in the UK recently officially said that there would be no prosecutions of people making backups of legitimately owned material, including ripping and transfering to mp3 players.

Downloading a copy to use as a backup is totally different, they would probably object just on the basis that they dont want people usinging illegal downloads/file sharing at all.