[LINK] Weekend Magazine. On this balmy weekend, something besides the Sunday Funnies to tickle your fancy

[Tom Koltai]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman1.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Kim Holburn
> Sent: Sunday, 11 October 2009 11:25 PM
> To: Link list
> Subject: Re: [LINK] Weekend Magazine. On this balmy weekend, 
> something besides the Sunday Funnies to tickle your fancy
> 
> 
> Interesting way of putting it.  So I have these random questions:
> 
> Can I play any recorded music at parties at all legally in Australia?
> 
Legally (if you charge anything for entry,) no. Then it is a public
performance and you must apply for a licence.

> If I have friends over can I play recorded music?  How many friends  
> before playing the music is illegal?

Yes. The act doesn't specify.
There has never been a limit to how many persons can listen music at a
private house.
If the party spills over into the public park or beach next door - then
you have a problem.

> Can a friend bring a CD or DVD over and play it at my house?  

Yes.

> Can they  
> bring a format-shifted file over and play it?
> 
Yes.

> Can I play a format shifted file at a party?
> 
Yes. As long as someone at the party owns the original CD or digital
download or has transferred the ownership of same to someone at the
party.

> If I have format shifted a DVD or CD that I own, does that 
> now mean I  can't lend it to a friend or give it away or sell it?  

Correct. 

1.	Loaning CD's and DVD's to a friend is a grey area of the ACT.
2.	format shifting places an additional burden on the grey area -
untested as yet in Australian courts.
      However the act stipulates that if you get rid of the original
recording - then you must also delete the format shifted version. It is
quite specific in that regard.

>Has making a copy done something to my first sale rights (do we have
any such thing in Australia)?

The act doesn't specify the ownership of the content of a CD except to
the copyright holder.
You only own the CD/DVD - you do not own the content on the CD/DVD. You
have merely purchased a licence to view listen to the content on the CD.
Silly, but there it is.
Ergo you can never actually deal with the content on a commercial basis
separately from the file/cd/dvd that you purchased.

> 
> I rent a DVD or CD or borrow one from the library, can I lend it to a
friend?

No. But if you and the friend form a financial partnership for the
purposes of renting videos, then I would consider that the content
companies would find it hard to prosecute that case successfully. The
argument is "Neither one of us can afford to rent a DVD per day by
ourselves therefore the DVD would ONLY be rented if we form this limited
special purpose partnership." 

Besides, I don't think they would be silly enough to go after
Australians for such a lame excuse.

> 
> I can format shift a DVD or CD I own, but not one I rent or borrow.   
> What if I need to format shift in order to play it?

Sure format shift away. Officially - I would say that you need to delete
the content upon the return of the DVD to the store.
Unofficially, I would argue that there is a case for retaining the
format shifted copy until a single view of the content for each member
of the house that you reside in has been effected. 
The act is mute on this, but commonsense would dictate that the rules
would be similar to timeshifting a television broadcast.
However, I wouldn't want anyone to rely on this statement alone, so I
shall email these queries to the AG office and see if we can obtain an
empirical response.
 
> If someone sends me a DVD from say Europe, the US, or China am I  
> allowed to play it without a special player? Can I format 
> shift it in  
> order to play it?

Yes and Yes. The Australian Government canned Zone protection some time
ago.

> 
> If they sent it to me as a loan ?

Ummm. Ok, that would be an initial NO. But depending on the
circumstances. If they gifted it to you and then later realised that
they couldn't live without it, then obviously, title changes hands twice
and no loan was agreed to.

Loan no. Permanent Gift, yes.

I would suggest though that if everyone in Australia starts making out
bills of sales for DVD's travelling backwards and forwards across the
neighbourhood, eventually, someone will notice.

> 
> 
> On 2009/Oct/11, at 2:56 AM, Tom Koltai wrote:




Tom


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