OT: Legalese [Re: And another Ubuntu convert!]

[Rashkae]

Derek Broughton wrote:
> Bart Silverstrim wrote:
> 
>> Derek Broughton wrote:
> 
>>>> Software and movies come
>>>> with licenses you agree to when you use them.
>>> Movies _don't_.  Try to find a single DVD that says anywhere "to be
>>> played only on licensed DVD players".
>> I haven't seen that particular clause, but It thought the big warning
>> screen when you first start the movie was a copyright notice and
>> license, isn't it? 
> 
> It's a copyright notice, but there's nothing in the standard one that's any 
> sort of license that I've ever seen - it's a warning of what the FBI (like 
> that holds sway in most of the world) will do to you if you commit piracy.

The warning claims that the video is licensed only for non-commercial
use.  However, it has no legal teeth, as there is no contract between
the buyer and the studio outside of the studio's imagination.  I never
could figure out, however, what part of copyright law prohibits public
display, since you can project a movie to as big as screen you want
without strictly violating copyright.  There is obviously some kind of
statute that deals with public display of copyright material... (bleh)