Have CD? Can’t Copy It? Possibly

We have covered this before, but it bears repeating. The RIAA believes that you can’t copy the song off the CD to your PC. This on its face turns the US Copyright law on its head. Copyright has traditionally been, you the consumer having purchased the right to use of a instance of a work, you need not be concerned about the form of the ‘container’ that houses the instance. Regardless –

Now, in an unusual case in which an Arizona recipient of an RIAA letter has fought back in court rather than write a check to avoid hefty legal fees, the industry is taking its argument against music sharing one step further: In legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

The industry’s lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are “unauthorized copies” of copyrighted recordings.

Which to some lawyers seems strange –

“I couldn’t believe it when I read that,” says Ray Beckerman, a New York lawyer who represents six clients who have been sued by the RIAA. “The basic principle in the law is that you have to distribute actual physical copies to be guilty of violating copyright. But recently, the industry has been going around saying that even a personal copy on your computer is a violation.”

Eventually a case will be driven all the way to 1st District court for resolution. RIAA’s argument is that the container of the data is as important as the data contained within. The problem for RIAA is that the genie is already out of the bottle and no cork will stopper it.

Link.