Pre-loaded iPods raise legal concerns
updated 06:05 pm EST, Mon February 6, 2006
Pre-loaded iPods illegal?
Experts in digital copyright law are questioning the legality of loading copyrighted content onto iPods, even if users actually purchase that content. A new breed of online sales have emerged along with the miniature media players from Apple and other companies, where individuals load up the gadgets with copyrighted music and videos before selling them at marked-up prices online. A 60-gigabyte video iPod loaded with 11,800 songs was recently put up for auction on eBay with a starting bid of $799, but was removed by site staff members after it was discovered. "That is a copyright violation, one that we don't even need to hear from the rights owner about before removing," eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told USA Today. "Some of those sales may be legal, and some not," said Andrew Bridges, digital music lawyer at Winston-and-Strawn. Services like TVMyPod already pre-load iPods with content, but purchase the content for each individual iPod and ship the disks to customers along with the iPod itself. "The question that needs to be asked is, if you buy a DVD, are you allowed to put it onto an iPod?" TVMyPod co-founder David Onigman said.
The DMCA makes it illegal
02/06, 06:38pm reply
""The question that needs to be asked is, if you buy a DVD, are you allowed to put it onto an iPod?""
Unless there's some way to transfer the video from a DVD to the iPod (including necessary conversion since the iPod doesn't support the native DVD fromat) without circumventing CSS, it is illegal according to the DMCA. I disagree with the law in that I don't think it should be illegal, but it is indeed illegal. However, as video iPod usage grows, perhaps Joe Sixpack can raise enough of an uproar about it to have the law changed.
As for the eBay auction, that's no real surprise. I don't think they'd allow you to sell burned copies of CDs. Sure, you could have filled the iPod with songs you legally purchased and then made sure to delete/destroy the songs in your possession after the sale so that the buyer was the only one who had them. But, that's a lot to ask eBay to be responsible for (they would almost certainly be named in a lawsuit by the RIAA should this type of transaction become commonplace).
Jeff
rgbyhkr
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2006
The question that needs
02/06, 06:38pm reply
to be asked is, "Are copyright holders entitled to unlimited compensation solely through placing restrictions on fair-use distribution rights"?
just a poster
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2004
Ebay Double Standard
02/06, 10:18pm reply
It's ironic that I just read about ebay refusing to police people selling fakes of figurines, etc because of the size of the task and because they usually only go after listings when a copyright or patent owner's rights have been violated. Yet, they'll turn around and pull something like this.
By the way...the provision of the law that disallows you to make personal copies by breaking the CSS is under review at present.
SDW2001
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2001
not a double standard
02/06, 11:39pm reply
ebay can't tell if the figurines are fake, and anyway, it's not illegal to sell fake figurines. they can tell that it is a violation of copyright law to sell an ipod full of content. It's not practical for them to investigate every little figurine, that's an area where the buyer should beware.
m_young
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2003
Ebay is Anti-Consumer
02/07, 08:18am reply
Ebay is in the back-pocket of multi-billion dollar companies who want to squeeze every dime from working Americans. Their ridiculous policy about OEM software, and now this, are undeniable proof.
if it hurts Ebay, it must be good.
Monstermind
Junior Member
Joined: May 2000
huge can of worms
02/07, 03:50pm reply
no doubt then we will see ebay doing the "right thing" and taking off every single used computer that offers software on it?
zl9600
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2003