In general, I support intellectual property rights. However, you are
permitted to tape things at home for your own use (this falls under
'Fair Use' in copyright law*). Even passing a copy around
NON-COMMERCIALLY might be legal under Fair Use. The statement, "If the
creator of the IP doesn't agree to copying, then the creation of
unauthorized Divx files is simply theft." is incorrect. Making the DivX
file is a legal act (protected by copyright law, in fact); shipping
those DivX images around the Internet is a violation of copyright law.
Calling it theft is misleading; it is a violation of copyright law
(rather than a violation of a larceny statute), which is as bad as
theft, but not quite the same thing.
All legal issues aside, I would consider it unethical to copy a tape if
I could go to a theater and watch the movie, or go to Blockbuster and
rent the tape (theoretically helping the IP owners by pumping money into
a channel from which they have already extracted money, when Blockbuster
bought 15,000 copies of the tape). However, if the producers of
Revolution OS said that their movie had had its run in theaters, and was
never going to be released on VHS or DVD, how unethical would it be to
copy it (yes, I know that it would still be illegal)?
*I am not a lawyer. My 'working knowledge' of IP law comes from being a
software engineer who has to worry about these things.
--ronan
>>>I hadn't seen this film until now; borrowed the tape of it from Rob
>>>Mayhue (it was taped off of TV). This is excellent material for newbies.
>>>
>>>In any case, right now it's available only on 35mm. But in September, it
>>>should be available on VHS and DVD for around $25. When I hear something
>>>more definite, I'll let you know.
>>
>>I have a DiVX rip of that on CDR should anyone be interested (streamed
>>off my Tivo via TivoNet card).
>
>
> Please don't violate the copyright! There was a big discussion (including
> comments from JTS Moore the producer/director) on the SVLUG list earlier this
> year:
> http://lists.svlug.org/pipermail/svlug/2002-April/040248.html
> http://lists.svlug.org/pipermail/svlug/2002-April/040259.html
>
> JTS Moore- "I just ask that they not copy the film. I think
> the key thing about the Open Source movement is that it's voluntary.
> People choose to allow other people to copy and modify their
> intellectual property. If the creator of the IP doesn't agree
> to copying, then the creation of unauthorized Divx files is
> simply theft."
>
> More info on DVD/Video availability is here:
>
> http://www.revolution-os.com/page1.html
>
>
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