Big Graeme wrote:
Well you don't seem to have a grasp on the fact that what ever a US court decides doesn't have any impact on what is or isn't legal here,
Stupid remark. I specifically pointed out that it was a US decision so your comprehension module seems to be on the blink. Anyway, I'm sure you never for a second imagined I actually think US law applies in the UK, so you're just being inexplicably arsey.
Secondly, decisions in other jurisdictions cannot be said (by a rational person) to "have no impact" in the UK. On the contrary, it is standard practice when considering development and changes in the law to research and consider the law and how it works in other relevant jurisdictions. For example only the other day a form of civil case funding called the "Ontario model" was introduced into English law. Do you happen to know whether Ontario is abroad? (Hint: it's in a foreign place called "Canada"). Looks, quacks and smells like an impact to me. Do you really believe that such groundbreaking decisions really have "no impact" in the wider world? Do you really believe that if the same point were litigated in the UK, no reference would be made to this decision?
Big Graeme wrote:
under current EU law "First use" regulations apply both to tangible and non-tangible goods.
Ironically, the so called "doctrine of first sale" (or "exhaustion", as known in the EU) referring to exhaustion of copyright holders' rights is firmly rooted in American jurisprudence and it has had an impact world wide. Anyway, what regulations can you mean? Are you saying that re-selling downloaded mp3s (for example) is perfectly legal if done in the EU? If so, then you are talking monumental bollox. Under UK law it is still 100% illegal to even burn your legally purchased tracks onto your iPod, even if iTunes are happy to facilitate it. (The government recently announced new laws to legalise this day to day activity).
Secondly, your simplistic and naive view ignores the fact that pretty much every purchase you make seeks to oust any such provisions by stating you're buying a licence, to use, not entering into a contract for sale, so far as the music goes. I expect you just tick the box, or tear off the shrinkwrap breaking the seal. You should try reading it.
Anyway, now is not the time or place to give you a lesson on EU law, (and I'm no expert even though clearly I know about 100x more than you) suffice to say that in a nutshell in the EU the purchaser only has the right of distribution, but (pay attention)
not reproduction . Moreover, Directive 2001/29/EC states that member States must provide for the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit direct or indirect, temporary or permanent reproduction by any means and in any form, in whole or in part of, (inter alia) for performers, of fixations of their performances; and for phonogram producers, of their phonogram.
In short, the laws are a mess, both outside and inside the EU.
