CD/DVD Copyright

Morning people.

I've had a quick search but cant find anything solid and i'm kinda in a rush.

We've got a member of staff who would like to do two things:
a) They want to rip CD's to the shared area... apparently for educational reasons (not sure if thats true or not).
b) They want to put "dvd rips" (although I know for a fact that they are downloaded movies) on the network/school laptops even if she claims she has the original DVD.

Now, in both cases, my common sense says bugger off. I'm pretty sure it's illegal under copyright todo both.

Can anyone comfirm this and/or quote the relevent passage from what ever law I can use?

There's a good deal of confusion over this, as in the USA it is legal to make "back up" copies. However, in the UK it is illegal to make any sort of copy of copyrighted work without the permission of the copyright holder (except for computer games - probably a throwback to the days when they were on cassette tape!). In theory, this even extends to ripping CDs to your mp3 player!

I did read something a while back that there were rumblings in the UK that the law should be changed, but nothing has happened yet.

So your teacher is wrong. Point her at: The UK Copyright Service, in particular:

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Restricted acts

It is an offence to perform any of the following acts without the consent of the owner:

Copy the work.

Rent, lend or issue copies of the work to the public.

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There are educational exemptions, but not for the sort of thing she wants. The full act is Here (point her at it, she'll soon get bored) the relevant passages being:

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32 Things done for purposes of instruction or examination

(1) Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work is not infringed by its being copied in the course of instruction or of preparation for instruction, provided the copying—

(a) is done by a person giving or receiving instruction, and

(b) is not by means of a reprographic process.

(2) Copyright in a sound recording, film, broadcast or cable programme is not infringed by its being copied by making a film or film sound-track in the course of instruction, or of preparation for instruction, in the making of films or film sound-tracks, provided the copying is done by a person giving or receiving instruction.

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(My emphasis{es?}). So putting stuff in any public area is a no-no.

Teachers do seem to think that copyright law doesn't apply to them, don't they?

excellent! Thanks, thats perfect!!

Also you should point out that the penalty for breaking copyright law is a maximum of 10 years in jail and an unlimited fine. Might ruin ones career that.

Oh and if they play the 'but they'll never find out' card. Point out how little you get paid compared to them, then point out that the BPI offer bounties for grassing people up.

rofl... noted!

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There are educational exemptions, but not for the sort of thing she wants

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So it can be done for legitimate educational reasons? If the dvd is of educational value and is owned by the person or the department?

Am new to the forum and this issue has also been raised in my school as a history teacher wants to put a copy of schindlers list on the network - they do have a department copy so it isnt infingement right??

Copyright issues can be mindblowing!!

As pointed out above you *cannot* rip DVDs, but there are music purchases you can make that allow you to store music electronically and centrally.

audionetworks is an example of this.

Search for Creative Commons and music as an example.

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Originally Posted by notknown

A history teacher wants to put a copy of schindlers list on the network - they do have a department copy so it isnt infingement right??

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Wrong. However, if you have an ERA licence (to record TV) you can put a copy recorded from the recent broadcast on your network. Or you can legitimately get a copy of the broadcast from another ERA licensed school.

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Originally Posted by notknown

So it can be done for legitimate educational reasons? If the dvd is of educational value and is owned by the person or the department?

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No, as it wouldn't be just for the person who made the copy. I suspect that any such exemptions would be over-ruled by the standard copyright notice which states (taken from my copy of Schindler's):

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Unauthorised copying, hiring, lending, public performance, radio or TV broadcasting of this DVD is prohibited.

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Besides which I'm 90% sure that it is illegal to circumvent any anti-copy features on a disc, and would be very surprised if you could just stick in a copy of Schindler's and just press "copy" using "legitimate" software.

P.S. Tell them not to be so tight, Play are doing Schindler's for a fiver. (Of course, teacher's can't be trusted not to lose the discs/scratch them because they can't be bothered to put them away properly).

Thanks for the help here guys :)

So, if I now understand this right - if you record from a tv broadcast and have an ERA liscence it is possible to that recording on the network, without breaking any rules? So perhaps if one of them has a video copy from the tv I could transfer through a tv card that maybe?

There are 5 members of the history department that do the same topics at the same time and their budget was cut (as probably with most Nottingham schools) so 5 copies of each dvd can get expensive. They are a nice crew so I would like to help. Mind it is starting to sound like a lot of work :eek: perhaps I should just refer him to play.com lol

When looking at copying or using materials that have been recorded from certain *free-to-air* channels then please look at the ERA website in particular ERA Plus when looking at digitally storing the material.

ERA is the place to look for this part of the question.

if you had purchased a book and x amount of time passes whether that be a week or a few months and you spilt some drink on the book, you wouldn't be like oh darn its illegal for me to dry the book out i had better go out and buy another book otherwise I will be breaking copy right law because I have altered the book.

For the sake of arguement and hyperthetically ( if this was truely a dvd that the person did own ) ie you buy a dvd for your kids and you know what kids are like with regards to looking after items ( at least for the most part ) you would make one backup copy and let them use the backup copy and keep the original disc in a safe place.

I can see where they are coming from with regards to getting around the css or copy right side but its not like any of us are intentionally breaking it so we can alter the contents of the disc , it would just be for the purpose of making a backup copy so that you did not have to keep forking out money each time a disc got scratched.

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Originally Posted by gecko

if you had purchased a book and x amount of time passes whether that be a week or a few months and you spilt some drink on the book, you wouldn't be like oh darn its illegal for me to dry the book out i had better go out and buy another book otherwise I will be breaking copy right law because I have altered the book.

For the sake of arguement and hyperthetically ( if this was truely a dvd that the person did own ) ie you buy a dvd for your kids and you know what kids are like with regards to looking after items ( at least for the most part ) you would make one backup copy and let them use the backup copy and keep the original disc in a safe place.

I can see where they are coming from with regards to getting around the css or copy right side but its not like any of us are intentionally breaking it so we can alter the contents of the disc , it would just be for the purpose of making a backup copy so that you did not have to keep forking out money each time a disc got scratched.

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That's all well and good, but the law is still against you. Until they change it anyway.

What laws (all of them) are broken when doing this;

Mr Ben, can you cut the first 19 seconds off track one for us to use for our dance exam???

Remember not to confuse the issue of 'backup copies' and 'copies'. A backup copy is made and put in a drawer never to see the light of day, and is (I think!) legal in the UK. A copy which is duplicated 5 times and passed round the department (or put on the network) is not okay.

MP3s which the school has bought can (again, I think!) be put on the network without issue, but it does need to be the school that owns the song, not the teacher. If the teacher wanted to give their bought MP3s to the school, they could, but they must get rid of their copies of them.

As for your dance exam question, address that to the exam board. Our A-Level Music students have to do a comparison/critique/dissertation thing on two performances of the same piece of music, and the exam board asks that we send them the exact recordings to which the students refer. Ordinarily, this would obviously be illegal, however apparently the exam board have some dispensation for this use - your dance exam may be the same.