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

[Derek Broughton]

Mario Vukelic wrote:

> On Tue, 2009-01-27 at 15:12 -0400, Derek Broughton wrote:
>> Show me such a license, then.  Movies don't have them.
> 
> I don't think I have any movie CDs anymore, at least I can't find any.
> But the first DVD I grabbed from the shelf (Elvis: That's the way it is)
> reads:
> "NOT AUTHORIZED FOR SALE OR RENTAL OUTSIDE OF THE USA AND CANADA: This
> copyrighted product has been manufactured and distributed by Warner Home
> Video, a Time Warner Entertainment Company, and is authorized for sale
> or rental for private home use in the USA and Canada ONLY. The sale or
> rental of this product outside of the USA and Canada has NOT been
> authorized by Warner Home Video, and is in direct violation of the
> written terms of trade. Federal law provides sever civil and criminal
> penalties for the unauthorized distribution, reproduction or exhibition
> of copyrighted motion pictures, video tapes or videodiscs.
> Elvis: That's the way it is & Photography [lots of copyright notices].
> All rights reserved. Available from blah blah blah".

And not a thing in there to say that you need to have an authorized player 
to play it...

> Ah, here I have a DVD of an Austrian TV series from the seventies. The
> notice is in German, but I'll translate:
> "The DVD is intended only for private home use. Copying onto empty tape
> is prohibited. 

Pretty telling that they explicitly reserve the right to copy onto your own 
media, isn't it?

> A CD, first one I found from a major label, Neil Young & Crazy Horse:
> Weld:
> 
> "Reprise Records, a Time Warner company. [Address]. [Copyright notices].
> All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, lending, exhibition,
> public performance, broadcast prohibited. Made in Canada by blahblah".
> 
>> Of course they're
>> copyrighted - every work is.  But we have laws about what you can do with
>> copyrighted material, and, in Canada, fair use includes putting it on the
>> medium of your choice.
> 
> What you do own is the material disc of course. The copyright holder of
> course owns all rights to the content and lets you use it. Note how they
> always say "Unauthorized this and that"

And, in Canada, as I keep saying, copying to your own media is _authorized_ 
use.  Copyright has fair-use provisions everywhere, which limit just how 
much use can be restricted.  What constitutes fair use differs, by 
jurisdiction.

All those example you have given are assertions of copyright, and 
specifically _not_ licenses.  That's why schools need special copies to show 
in class, because those _do_ have licenses.