Music backup for "shifting" soon to be legal

[5lab]

not so sure - the trailors at the start of movies (which i based my limited knowledge on) definately say not for re-sale - i'd imagine the same laws apply to cds

[kalniel]

Ah but our statutory rights hold precedence over anything on the product, and as such I'm pretty sure we do have a right to resell things we own.

[Saracen]

not so sure - the trailors at the start of movies (which i based my limited knowledge on) definately say not for re-sale - i'd imagine the same laws apply to cds

Well, I have a couple of thoughts on that. The first is that if we're talking about legality (and I was), then what matters is what the law says, not what the blurb on the disk or packaging etc says. Secondly, it'll depend whether the blurb is for the UK market - if the blurb is for the US market (for instance), then what you can do in the US and what you can do here are different, because copyright laws, while similar, are different.

And, the way in which the disc was bought will also impact on what can and can't be done with it. If it was a retail purchase, then it may be hard for a rights holder to make restrictions above and beyond the coptright protections actually stick, for the reason I mentioned a few posts ago - you wouldn't know about such restrictions until after you'd bought the disc, and by that time the contract is concluded making it too late to try to unilaterally impose conditions.

But, if it's come through another channel (such as a rental disc), then it's quite possible that resale is restricted, because rental disc are sold with a different set of rights granted by the rightholder. This has to be so, because if it wasn't the disc couldn't be rented, as that is prohibited by copyright law unless the rightsholder has granted permission. And they can grant the right to rent, but decline the right to resell.

I've just checked a few of my discs, and none of them try to restrict my right to resell .... though League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does go out of it's way to say it can't be rented.

[Saracen]

Ah but our statutory rights hold precedence over anything on the product, and as such I'm pretty sure we do have a right to resell things we own.

But what statutory right gives you the right to resell? If it's a statutory right, then by definition, there's a statute. Which one?

Generally, you'd have the right to resell anything you own. But with a CD or DVD (etc), when you buy the disc, you get two things .... the physical disc (i.e. the moveable property), and the right to use the content in a way that is either granted by law (or rather, not restricted by it) or given by the rights holder. But what you don't buy is the actual IP rights. And as you don't own those, you can neither sell nor change them.

As far as I'm aware, you can sell discs bought retail, though any restrictions on use pass to the new owner, but for those discs where the right to resell was originally withheld, I rather imagine you would not be able to resell, because even if you bought the disc in good faith, under English law, you will not generally (though there are limited exceptions) acquire good title to those goods if the seller did not himself hold good title.

Think about stolen goods as being the most obvious example. If you buy stolen goods, even in good faith, you do NOT (generally) own them. If discovered, they'll be returned to the proper owner (which by then may be an insurance company). The logic, simply put, is that if you don't own it, you can't sell it. For most discs, though, I can't see why the owner can't sell them.

[charleski]

unfortunately, giving a cd to a charity shop or a mate (unless you destroy the content on it first) is illegal

Absolutely and completely wrong. I have no idea where you got such an idea. If you buy a CD it belongs to you and you are free to sell it, give it away or lend it to a friend, just as you are with any other form of property.

I don't need a statutory right to do this, because England is not governed by civil law. But I suspect that neither you nor Saracen understand the difference between civil and common law anyway, so I'm probably wasting my time trying to explain something that you just don't want to understand.

The law is actually quite straightforward, and the manner in which you two have tried to obfuscate and distort it is disgusting. It's really quite pathetic.

The things you can't do with a CD are listed in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988, which is freely available for all to read. Apart from the restrictions listed there you are free to do anything else that you want. You aren't bound by contractual law, because when you buy a CD you aren't entering into a contract.

[Saracen]

.... You aren't bound by contractual law, because when you buy a CD you aren't entering into a contract.

Actually, yes you are. Every single time you buy something in a shop, you're entering into a contract.