Kelonian States
12-09-2004, 05:13
In a milestone judgement in copyright law, Senior Judge Grigori DeSajev has declared peer-to-peer file sharing of material like MP3 music files perfectly legal. His decision and summing-up hinged on the 'collectible' nature of the CD itself and the thus-devalued nature of raw sound 'files', and on the nature by which MP3s are encoded clashing with the true interpretation of the word 'duplicate' and it's use in Kelonian copyright law.
Under Kelonian law it is illegal to make exact copies or duplicates of a copyrighted work or any portion thereof, which is the same as most other countries, but in Kelonia the legal definition of 'duplicate' is very strict - if there is variation in the product then it is no longer an exact duplicate, and is not afforded the same legal protection as an exact copy. Judge DeSajev agreed with pro-P2P lobbyists in that formats such as MP3 compress the material by removing portions the human ear cannot detect, and often infringes on the audiable quality of the material, too, and this means that there has been a definate change in the material and as such an MP3 is not a duplicate. This means that P2P filesharers are not breaking any Kelonian law unless they are downloading in 'lossless' formats where absolutely no material is lost from the file (such as WAV files), and these formats are a negligible amount of the P2P download total and therefore of no pursuit value in law.
Judge DeSajev also went on to say that an official CD, with the usual printed booklet and artwork, is a collectible more than it is a piece of entertainment, and fans of music will always buy CDs of bands they like for their collectible nature and the 'kudos' amongst music fans that comes from owning all of a particular band's CDs. He praised some companies' forward-thinking in including special material on their CDs such as videos, interviews and other content not so easily 'ripped' for uploading to the internet, as this proved that CDs were more collectibles than just carriers of music - However, he did threaten to fine certain companies (mostly of the RIAK - Recording Industry Association of Kelonia) if they continued to lie in public and in court by calling P2P downloading 'stealing' or 'theft' in order to make it sound more dramatic;
"The issue we are debating here is if this is or is not copyright violation - theft does not come into it, and these companies are using it to attempt to strike fear into innocent people. Theft involves illegal removal of a physical copy and denying another person the chance to utilise it - in this case no physical object exists and no 'other person' is denied it - these people are not stealing CDs, they are making imperfect copies of the music therein. No-one is denied access to the CDs on the shelves in stores by this, no-one's CDs are vanishing from their living rooms to feed peer-to-peer services, therefore this is not theft. Saying it is in the way [certain organizations] have been over the last weeks and months is illegal in itself, both lying to a Judge - lying to one about the law, no less - and lying to the people to cause fear and uncertainty. it is deliberate deception and I will not tolerate it."
He also said that record companies deciding to not sell their merchandise in Kelonia after this decision would be shooting themselves in the foot - "the internet has no boundaries" he said "and while we here now monitor usage of the internet, we only punish what is illegal, and this is perfectly fine. If companies refuse to sell their wares here, then those that would want to buy the CD will have no choice but to download low-quality music and do without their precious collectibles that everyone is perfectly willing to pay for. The companies threatening to do this would be harming nobody but themselves."
Please note people will still not be allowed to charge for files, slightly edited or otherwise, as 'Illegally Profiting from the Work of Others' carries stiff prison sentences if severe enough, so a situation where a large band rips off a song by a smaller band will not happen, and nor will people selling copied CDs out of a suitcase get away with it.
Grigori DeSajev is one of the most experienced foward-thinking judges in all of Kelonia, and is Chief Justice of Semder Masanya, the province just north of Paztrom. The pressure he exerted on members of the government is believed to have been the deciding factor in the pushing through of several bills to improve the freedoms of Kelonian people, though he was unable to stop the Internet Monitor motion being passed.
Under Kelonian law it is illegal to make exact copies or duplicates of a copyrighted work or any portion thereof, which is the same as most other countries, but in Kelonia the legal definition of 'duplicate' is very strict - if there is variation in the product then it is no longer an exact duplicate, and is not afforded the same legal protection as an exact copy. Judge DeSajev agreed with pro-P2P lobbyists in that formats such as MP3 compress the material by removing portions the human ear cannot detect, and often infringes on the audiable quality of the material, too, and this means that there has been a definate change in the material and as such an MP3 is not a duplicate. This means that P2P filesharers are not breaking any Kelonian law unless they are downloading in 'lossless' formats where absolutely no material is lost from the file (such as WAV files), and these formats are a negligible amount of the P2P download total and therefore of no pursuit value in law.
Judge DeSajev also went on to say that an official CD, with the usual printed booklet and artwork, is a collectible more than it is a piece of entertainment, and fans of music will always buy CDs of bands they like for their collectible nature and the 'kudos' amongst music fans that comes from owning all of a particular band's CDs. He praised some companies' forward-thinking in including special material on their CDs such as videos, interviews and other content not so easily 'ripped' for uploading to the internet, as this proved that CDs were more collectibles than just carriers of music - However, he did threaten to fine certain companies (mostly of the RIAK - Recording Industry Association of Kelonia) if they continued to lie in public and in court by calling P2P downloading 'stealing' or 'theft' in order to make it sound more dramatic;
"The issue we are debating here is if this is or is not copyright violation - theft does not come into it, and these companies are using it to attempt to strike fear into innocent people. Theft involves illegal removal of a physical copy and denying another person the chance to utilise it - in this case no physical object exists and no 'other person' is denied it - these people are not stealing CDs, they are making imperfect copies of the music therein. No-one is denied access to the CDs on the shelves in stores by this, no-one's CDs are vanishing from their living rooms to feed peer-to-peer services, therefore this is not theft. Saying it is in the way [certain organizations] have been over the last weeks and months is illegal in itself, both lying to a Judge - lying to one about the law, no less - and lying to the people to cause fear and uncertainty. it is deliberate deception and I will not tolerate it."
He also said that record companies deciding to not sell their merchandise in Kelonia after this decision would be shooting themselves in the foot - "the internet has no boundaries" he said "and while we here now monitor usage of the internet, we only punish what is illegal, and this is perfectly fine. If companies refuse to sell their wares here, then those that would want to buy the CD will have no choice but to download low-quality music and do without their precious collectibles that everyone is perfectly willing to pay for. The companies threatening to do this would be harming nobody but themselves."
Please note people will still not be allowed to charge for files, slightly edited or otherwise, as 'Illegally Profiting from the Work of Others' carries stiff prison sentences if severe enough, so a situation where a large band rips off a song by a smaller band will not happen, and nor will people selling copied CDs out of a suitcase get away with it.
Grigori DeSajev is one of the most experienced foward-thinking judges in all of Kelonia, and is Chief Justice of Semder Masanya, the province just north of Paztrom. The pressure he exerted on members of the government is believed to have been the deciding factor in the pushing through of several bills to improve the freedoms of Kelonian people, though he was unable to stop the Internet Monitor motion being passed.