is copyright evil? (Re: about warez.at)

[Frank Heckenbach]

MJ Ray wrote:

> The CD-R taxes would have been argued for on the grounds that the
> media assisted contract breaches by the copier, the same as it is
> currently justified as assisting the licensee to break copyright
> law.

IANAL, but AFAIK it's not justified as assisting to break copyright
law. On the contrary, the law (at least in Germany) explicitly
allows for limited private copying (as part of fair use) of
copyrighted material *except* sofware. As a compensation for the
music industry etc., this "tax" was introduced. They say they know
it's unfair sometimes, but preferable to the alternative, not
allowing private copying at all, (and tracing all private copying
for accurate payment would be too much overhead and bureaucracy).

Frank

-- 
Frank Heckenbach, frank at g-n-u.de
http://fjf.gnu.de/
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