[sword-devel] Legal ?

[Jerry Hastings]

I hope this doesn't cause more confusion. The discussion has gone from
sapphire and export laws, and exporting printed code, to encrypted text and
owning another copy of the text. This reply has nothing to do with saphire
or export laws, and is only about copying for people that already own a copy.

At 05:49 AM 11/23/1999 -0700, Troy A. Griffitts wrote:
>You are NOT legally able to 'distribute' that work to others, but they
>may also use an electronic copy if they own a printed copy, or
>viceversa.

Has this idea been tested for 3rd parties? As I understand it, if you own a
copy in one media you may be allowed to make and use another copy of it in
another media for personal use. Something like buying a CD of music for
home and making a tape from it to use in your car. But can a 3rd party make
the tape (in bulk) and give them to people that have the CD? That 3rd party
would not be making the copies for his own personal use. They would be for
the use of others. I don't see him having that right.

If I own a CD and make MP3 files from it and place them on the internet,
even stating that they are only for people that already own a copy, I can
see me getting busted. Same for NIV or any of the other copyright protected
texts. Even though, I own a copy, I can not make copies for others, even if
they already own a copy.

If one were to argue that people downloading a copy from the net are making
their own copies, and that the web site was not party to making and
distributing the copies, I think he would have a hard time defending that
position.

Just my 2 cents.
Jerry