Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Anchoragite
If I ran a coffee shop, and people came to my business to read, would anyone have any problem with me running copies of all the latest best-sellers and providing them to my customers?

Bad analogy. You buy a book, you dont buy the right to copy and distribute it. I buy a CD, or turn on the radio which I have bought, I am entitled to play it. As long as I am not (directly) charging people for the performance, then there is no problem. Any profit the establishment makes from the music being played should be offset by the exposure the music gets to potential purhcasers. This isn't the same as making copies of a product and handing it out for free.

18 posted on 03/12/2003 12:06:20 PM PST by FreeTally
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]


To: FreeTally
As long as I am not (directly) charging people for the performance, then there is no problem.

That's not what the copyright law says. The recordings are sold for private use only, no public performance, same as videotapes.

How about if I rented a DVD and showed the movie at my coffee house or bar? "Come see free movies every night!" I could say. And I'd make more money, because people who wouldn't come to buy my coffee WILL come to see a movie and THEN buy my coffee.

It doesn't matter whether you're directly charging for the product or not. You're enhancing your profits by using someone else's work. If you don't like their work, or think it's too much, do the capitalist thing and turn it off.

24 posted on 03/12/2003 12:18:44 PM PST by Anchoragite
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

To: FreeTally
I buy a CD, or turn on the radio which I have bought, I am entitled to play it. As long as I am not (directly) charging people for the performance, then there is no problem.

You're wrong. Read the copyright law. Public performance is a specific right of the statute, a right possessed by the copyright owner, not you.

25 posted on 03/12/2003 12:19:57 PM PST by tdadams
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson