Copyright laws?
Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying languages using the FSI courses. If you would like to see a specific language forum not listed below, just let us know.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=616
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 3:11am
Topic: Copyright laws?
Posted By: Keighsie
Subject: Copyright laws?
Date Posted: 05 June 2008 at 12:43pm
www.learnamharicnow.com Is selling this "language program" that I bought, and spent hours downloading, and finally listened to only to find it is the same as the Amharic tapes on here! I am wondering if this is legal or not? I am obviously going to try to get a refund, but didn't know much about the copyright or Public Domain on these tapes. Thank you all for your help
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Replies:
Posted By: Chung
Date Posted: 05 June 2008 at 1:40pm
It seems legal. The principle is that if an item is in the public domain, one can do whatever he or she wants to that item. Not only does it mean that one could copy it and pass it off as his/her own, it also means that he/she could distribute it for a profit (or not).
I wouldn't get my hopes up for a refund because it seems like a case of "buyer beware" and the reseller may have set up the transaction as a final sale thus making it difficult if not impossible to get a refund. In any case, the reseller isn't obliged to tell you that he/she acquired inventory from this website for free. I've posted before that it is a little sneaky and maybe even bad customer service, but it's legal and I've read comments here that there may be a slight unintended benefit from others reselling at a token price (e.g. $10 per course) since people going to those sites reduce traffic here and keep this site from crashing even more often because of the traffic overload.
If you look for previous posts in the forum, others have come across resellers on Ebay doing the same thing with FSI courses. The dead give-away for their source material is if they offer material that is as incomplete as the stuff here. (I recently noticed that a reseller was selling FSI Hungarian Graded Reader and added in the description that its audio included up to the 24th selection - just the same as posted on this website)
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Posted By: DemiPuppet
Date Posted: 11 June 2008 at 8:25pm
I see that the site selling the material is based in California. You could politely ask them if they are familiar with California Penal Code 653h:
(a) Every person is guilty of a public offense punishable as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), who: (1) Knowingly and willfully transfers or causes to be transferred any sounds that have been recorded on a phonograph record, disc, wire, tape, film or other article on which sounds are recorded, with intent to sell or cause to be sold, or to use or cause to be used for commercial advantage or private financial gain through public performance, the article on which the sounds are so transferred, without the consent of the owner. (2) Transports for monetary or like consideration within this state or causes to be transported within this state any such article with the knowledge that the sounds thereon have been so transferred without the consent of the owner. (b) Any person who has been convicted of a violation of subdivision (a), shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or five years, or by a fine not to exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), or by both, if the offense involves the transfer or transportation, or conduct causing that transfer or transportation, of not less than 1,000 of the articles described in subdivision (a). (c) Any person who has been convicted of any other violation of subdivision (a) not described in subdivision (b), shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or by both. A second or subsequent conviction under subdivision (a) not described in subdivision (b) shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison or by a fine not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), or by both. (d) Every person who offers for sale or resale, or sells or resells, or causes the sale or resale, or rents, or possesses for these purposes, any article described in subdivision (a) with knowledge that the sounds thereon have been so transferred without the consent of the owner is guilty of a public offense. (1) A violation of subdivision (d) involving not less than 100 of those articles shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both. A second or subsequent conviction for the conduct described in this paragraph shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year or in the state prison, or by a fine not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or by both. (2) A person who has been convicted of any violation of this subdivision not described in paragraph (1) shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed six months or by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both. A second conviction for the conduct described in this paragraph shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both. A third or subsequent conviction for the conduct described in this paragraph shall be punishable by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year or in the state prison, or by a fine not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), or by both. (e) As used in this section, "person" means any individual, partnership, partnership's member or employee, corporation, limited liability company, association or corporation or association employee, officer or director; "owner" means the person who owns the original master recording embodied in the master phonograph record, master disc, master tape, master film or other article used for reproducing recorded sounds on phonograph records, discs, tapes, films or other articles on which sound is or can be recorded, and from which the transferred recorded sounds are directly or indirectly derived; and "master recording" means the original fixation of sounds upon a recording from which copies can be made. (f) This section shall neither enlarge nor diminish the right of parties in private litigation. (g) This section does not apply to any person engaged in radio or television broadcasting who transfers, or causes to be transferred, any such sounds (other than from the sound track of a motion picture) intended for, or in connection with broadcast transmission or related uses, or for archival purposes. (h) This section does not apply to any not-for-profit educational institution or any federal or state governmental entity, if the institution or entity has as a primary purpose the advancement of the public's knowledge and the dissemination of information regarding America's musical cultural heritage, provided that this purpose is clearly set forth in the institution's or entity's charter, bylaws, certificate of incorporation, or similar document, and the institution or entity has, prior to the transfer, made a good faith effort to identify and locate the owner or owners of the sound recordings to be transferred and, provided that the owner or owners could not be and have not been located. Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve an institution or entity of its contractual or other obligation to compensate the owners of sound recordings to be transferred. In order to continue the exemption permitted by this subdivision, the institution or entity shall make continuing efforts to locate such owners and shall make an annual public notice of the fact of the transfers in newspapers of general circulation serving the jurisdictions where the owners were incorporated or doing business at the time of initial affixations. The institution or entity shall keep on file a record of the efforts made to locate such owners for inspection by appropriate governmental agencies. (i) This section applies only to such articles that were initially mastered prior to February 15, 1972.
Several states have identical restrictions on people who copy and sell audio products for a profit (Note: There is no provision for being in the public domain. Also note that this law does not apply to non-profit uses). Does the seller have permission of the owner of the master recording?
As always, I am not a lawyer. One should always check with their lawyer for legal advice.
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