Where do I start?

Quoting maxanon

What do you consider fair use? I guess that is the question. And does your definition of fair use impair the ability of a copyright holder to make money for their work?

Like you, my definition of what I would like fair use to be and what the courts have actually ruled are two distinctly different things. I definately believe that copyright holders should be paid for their work and that trading of copyrighted works without permission is OUT & OUT THEFT. Whether you share one copy or ten thousand, if the copyright holder did not grant permission than you are violating the law.

My definition of fair use is that I should be able to use media, that I legally have a license to, in any manner that does not place an undo hardship on either the copyright holder or the consumer. For example, I just recently started using "HYMN" to remove the DRM from my iTunes collection so that I could play my legally purchased music on another portable music device besides my iPod. Is Apple out any $$$ because of this? NO! Is it reasonable to expect that I should purchase additional copies of the same song to play on other portable devices? NO!

I also believe that fair use should grant me a license to make archival backups of the media that I have a license to as well. Why should I have to go and buy another copy of "Office Space" just because the DVD becomes unusable.

As for allowing me to share multiple copies, this becomes an extremely slippery slope. I could see something similar to the old "software rule" that would allow for more than one individual to access the media as long as it could not be used simultaneously by others.

Quoting maxanon

I agree that pricing is an issue, but that's a very circular situation. The more people don't pay for material the more the company needs to charge to recoup the losses.

There is no connection between pricing and the issue of fair use. Pricing is used by many as an argument for why they feel that stealing media is not actually stealing. Despite this misguided belief, legally by definition it is still theft.

As for the circular argument, you're spot on. The music industry is always going to get their $$$ and don't care if it's done on the backs of their customers. I would have to believe that someday this will come back to bite them. Then again, perhaps it already has with the decline in CD sales over the last few years.

Ocomik

www.ocomik.net
www.ocomik.net/blog/index.html