At 12:42 AM 11/05/2010, you wrote: Can one transfer a VHS to DVD only for archival purposes? Do we really have to purchase brand new DVD's of all the wonderful VHS tapes we have, that are no longer used because they equipment to show them isn't made or isn't available anymore? Diary of Anne Frank, Yentl, Hester Street, Rugrats Chanukah, and one could go on and on? What if it's a VHS that is not available as a DVD?
These questions bother librarians and scholars, but the lawmakers did not fully address all of these issues. In my next blog on copyright I will deal with the questions concerning who does the copyright law really protect? The British law, Statue of Anne (Copyright Act 1709), the first copyright legislation, seems to protect the printers and publishers because only publishers could own a copyright. Napoleonic Code was more concerned about the intellectual property rights of the creator; copyright was automatic upon creation. American law seems to favor the authors and creators over the publishers. The Berne Convention combines these protections and guess who loses -- scholars, librarians, and libraries. If a DVD says "For Home Use Only" it means that if can not be used any where else. You can't borrow a DVD from the library and show it without securing another license. Many people violate this provision of the law because the home use license is much less than a public performance license. For more you will have to read my next blog article. Shabbat shalom, Daniel Stuhlman Chicago, IL ddstuhlman at earthlink.net Blog: http://kol-safran.blogspot.com/ Latest entry Nov. 2 Podcast: http://ddstuhlman.podomatic.com --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
