[ILUG] copyright law in ireland...

[Conor Daly]

On Mon, Nov 13, 2000 at 11:17:01PM +0000 or thereabouts, Hugh Mc Gauran wrote:
> well it is due to or already has been passed into law
> 
> i think that it depends on how it is interpreted
> i suppose we will have to wait and see what happens
> 
> 
> On Mon, 13 Nov 2000, John Malone wrote:
> > * At 22:41, Hugh Mc Gauran wrote:
> > > Here is a cut from it....
> > > 
> > > (d) has in his or her possession, custody or control an article specifically 
> > > designed or adapted for making copies of that work ,  knowing or having 
> > > reason to believe that it has been or is to be used to make infringing copies.                                                       
> > So any mp3 ripper is "specifically designed .. for making copies of that
> > work". 
> > 
> > cp (1) can be adapted to make a copy of a work. Are we all doomed?
> > 
> > How stringent is this going to be inforced? Any body know of any cases?

 From my recent reading of copyright stuff, such an article must have "no
other purpose" than the circumvention of rights protection.  So, for
example, the Playstation chip which allows you to play copied games is not
such an article since its "purpose" is to allow you to play games
*legitimately* purchased in a different region.  In this case, "cp (1)" does
not infringe.  Similarly an mp3 ripper, if it does not attempt to crack a
protection method is quite legit as is ripping a CD to mp3 *for private use*
assuming you own the CD in the first place.  Copying of software for backup
purposes is quite legit also.

Interestingly, European copyright law allows "decompiling a program" to
allow you to get it to interact with other programs.  Does this mean that
hacking an "upgrade" of a program to get it to work with your system that
doesn't have a "qualifying original" program is legit also???

-- 
Conor Daly 
Met Eireann, Glasnevin Hill, Dublin 9, Ireland
Ph +353 1 8064217 Fax +353 1 8064275
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