Ripping music for iPods is not fair use - RIAA

[MK]

Thursday 16th February 2006
Ripping music for iPods is not fair use - RIAA 11:30AM

Ripping music from CDs and transferring it to an iPod does not constitute fair use, according to a document filed by the major record companies.
In a filing to the US Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to undo a statement it made in court during the recent successful prosecution of the Grokster p2p company.

In court RIAA lawyer Don Verrilli said: 'The record companies have said, for some time now, and it's been on their website for some time now, that it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod.'

However in the Copyright Office filing the RIAA takes a contrary view.

'Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization,' it argues. 'In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorisation, not about fair use.'

In other words, explained Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the EFF, a leading digital rights campaign organisation, if you want to copy a CD to your iPod, get permission first.

'If I understand what the RIAA is saying, "perfectly lawful" means "lawful until we change our mind", he wrote in the EFF blog. 'So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?'

The RIAA filing will help to determine what are considered 'non-infringing' activities under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The law requires the US Copyright Office to set exemptions to the DMCA's stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) anti-copying technologies.

In addition to attempting to have CD copying to iPods outlawed, the RIAA also believes that making a back-up is outside the realms of fair usage.

'Similarly, creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use,' it stated, adding that, 'the fact remains that there is no general exception to allow back-up copying and thus no justification for allowing circumvention of access controls for this purpose.'

The EFF has declined to submit evidence this year, having done so in the previous two, because it believes 'the rulemaking process is simply too broken' and that consumers are simply being ignored.

'Where consumers are concerned, the Copyright Office discounts their concerns as "mere inconveniences", Lohmann explained. 'Copy-protected CDs are no problem because you can play them on CD players, even if they won't work in your computer. Where the copyright industries are concerned, in contrast, the Copyright Office presumes that DRM is the only thing that stands between them and financial ruin.'

Simon Aughton

[Rspaight]

Here's my favorite quote from the RIAA filing:

The [submitted arguments in favor of granting exemptions to the DMCA] provide no arguments or legal authority that making back up copies of CDs is a noninfringing use. In addition, the submissions provide no evidence that access controls are currently preventing them from making back up copies of CDs or that they are likely to do so in the future. Myriad online downloading services are available and offer varying types of digital rights management alternatives. For example, the Apple FairPlay technology allows users to make a limited number of copies for personal use. Presumably, consumers concerned with the ability to make back up copies would choose to purchase music from a service that allowed such copying. Even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices. Similar to the motion picture industry, the recording industry has faced, in online piracy, a direct attack on its ability to enjoy its copyrights.

Suck on that, puny "consumer."

Ryan

[lukpac]

"Even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices."

It would probably be fair to pull out the box set and gold CD trump cards about now.

[Rspaight]

I just find the notion of "You're not allowed to make backups of CDs. So, if you want a backup of the music you buy, don't buy a CD, buy it from iTunes because they allow you make backups" completely impenetrable. It makes no sense at all.

How do you make a backup of iTunes songs? You burn them onto a fucking CD.

So if your hard drive fails and you have to restore your iTunes songs, you just copy them off your backup CD, right? Except... copying songs from a CD is illegal. Well, surely they mean only *factory-pressed* CDs are illegal to copy, and you can copy a *custom-burned* CD of downloaded tracks to your heart's content. Which is perfectly logical...

<head explodes>

Ryan

[J_Partyka]

So let me get this straight. I have a store-bought copy of, say, U2's The Joshua Tree CD. I bought an iPod and I want "With or Without You" on it. The RIAA is saying that, instead of getting the song from a compact disc which I acquired legally and have owned for years (a process which allows me to choose from a variety of encoding options to control file size and sound quality), I'm supposed to pay for the song again and receive it in a format that someone else has chosen, that will probably sound like poop? Or seek some kind of written permission slip from the RIAA to rip my CD?? Just so I can load a song onto my portable player??

Sure, RIAA. That'll happen.

And: What if I want Revolver on my iPod? That's not available at the iTunes Music Store or, AFAIK, any other place that sells legal downloads. What then, RIAA? Can I rip it ... pretty please?

[Rspaight]

No.

Ryan

[Xenu]

When do we declare war on France?

[MK]

You know, if the GOP stood up to this shit, it would 'solve' all their current problems.

[Xenu]

I don't know if declaring war on the entertainment lobby (i.e. Dems) would necessarily offset them being firmly up the asses of the Big Business lobby.

Eliot Spitzer may have done a lot of crude things to further his political ambitions, but I think his entertainment industry shakedown is one of the most politically endearing things I've ever witnessed. People *love* him for his anti-Sony stance.