I often get questions in email, or at conferences or parties, about points of IP law. I try to explain that I Am Not A Lawyer or that, dang, this is a party, but most people’s questions about what’s illegal are easy to answer (ripping DVDs: yes; ripping audio CDs: no; drunkenly singing “Happy Birthday” through a bullhorn at a wedding: yes; making a mashup song: depends what state you’re in). But I’ve realized that’s not really what people are asking me, because there’s a big difference between telling you what’s illegal and telling you what not to do.
Unlike much of law, copyright law requires that the rights holder go to the trouble of suing. If they don’t want to, you can claim their masterwork as your own and do a rendition in armpit farts on national TV, make a mint selling the recording, and never have a spot of trouble with the authorities.
This is understandably confusing for most people. We like to think of our laws as moral, vital to a functional society. Current copyright law, like all unreasonable law, undermines this. The normal ways people use computers these days involves enough copyright violations that all the lawyers ever born couldn’t pursue them all.
Almost nothing you do in your own home is ever going to be findable by the RIAA or the MPAA, which don’t have the time and energy to care anyway. The unspeakable truth is, for the most part, no one cares if you break the law. This is not an answer lawyers can give you, but I can. Give songs to friends, Xerox library books, do terrible mashups of the Top 40—no one is coming for you. The good news is that most of us are more sensible and moral than the law. We can tell what’s harmful, and won’t do it, though we all get confused in the grey zones.
The real answer to your copyright questions is, ignore the law when it doesn’t matter, and obey it when it does. But how can you tell? You can’t! Isn’t this fun?
Quinn Norton writes about copyright for Wired News and other publications. Her work has ranged from legal journalism to the inner life of pirate organizations.
Comments are closed on this article
beliren
October 15, 2009 at 3:02am
quinn norton says: "The real answer to your copyright questions is, ignore the law when it
doesn’t matter, and obey it when it does. But how can you tell? You
can’t! Isn’t this fun?"If you are not capitalizing on another's intellectual property in a way that can cause them to lose revenue, nobody will come after you...
nekollx
October 15, 2009 at 9:39am
unless you show the propery on something that does make money like...Youtube, Deviant Art, Facebook. Which make money from ads so even your Fan Art, Music Videos, and Mashups become ileagle.
Yup it's true.
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
TheMaverick
October 12, 2009 at 10:31am
I was going to ask whether or not it was legal for me to dual boot Windows and Linux and run a Windows VM inside Linux and use the same license for both copies of Windows (the VM and the native dual boot), but since nobody gives a damn, I think I'll do it anyway... =)
nekollx
October 12, 2009 at 9:14am
it's all a giant mess...
Did you know if you make fan art and post it on Deviant Art they can sue you cause DA makes money via ands on your page...
Yup...its true
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
HokieTechie
October 12, 2009 at 6:53am
Both Trademark and Copyright are usually enforced by civil actions, which means that if the holder doesn't sue you, there's no enforcement.
Trademarks have this additional problem that if the holder "lets something slide" and fails to enforce their rights, they can lose the trademark altogether. Copyright doesn't have this issue.
It should be pointed out that there are criminal penalties in the US copyright law, so the United States DOJ can take you to court and throw you in jail. This usually happens in situations like pirate DVD rings.
wolf17
October 12, 2009 at 1:05pm
Oo, okay, thanks for clearing that up HokieTechie.
So what you're saying is that copyrights are sort of on a case-by-case basis, while trademarks you can lose it outright if you don't enforce every case (to the best of your ability)? Just curious
"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)
BaggerX
October 12, 2009 at 1:45pm
That's how it works. You'll sometimes hear people make the claim that they have to enforce copyrights or they'll lose them. That's just someone who has confused trademark law with copyright law and doesn't know enough about either to be worth listening to.
wolf17
October 12, 2009 at 4:55am
I thought that trademarks had to be defended or else they lose them, but copyrights don't. Care to explain this? I'm just curious b/c that's what my understanding was.
"Life is about living, not stressing" - a very smart girl :)
Yusonice
October 12, 2009 at 3:00am
wooooooo time to download new albums using limewire and share around!
visibly_stealthy
October 12, 2009 at 6:09am
Most have switched from limewire to frostwire. It's like Limewire Pro, but for free. It's alot faster and brings up more search rersults.I prefer Bittorrent or utorrent.
In the hands of a master, any object can become a field improvised, lethal weapon.
gendoikari1
October 12, 2009 at 8:24am
To each his own. I use Frostwire (the content search feature) and Azureus (the UI and features) myself (on my Windows computer. My Linux computer uses Transmission most of the time). I thought about using UTorrent, but I couldn't get the damn thing to work (working out of the box is a plus in my book).
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