Another legal question - downloads
Grope
2,970 Posts
not about me, but i gave a friend a link to some jazz blogs and she wonders if downlaods could get her into any trouble. is it really illegal when you download old jazz albums that are from abroad and there are no reissues and the labels don't even exist anymore? what's the worst kind of trouble that downloading could get you into? who would sue you? of course the owners of the rights, but who would that be regarding long out of print records that are not in possession of any big company? how does anyone find out about her downloading music from blogs?
Comments
I think that, generally speaking, it's only people who are downloading (or, more likely, torrenting) stuff on an industrial scale that are in serious danger of getting into real trouble over it. Even then, I think the focus now is more on movies and TV shows, where piracy and filesharing still represents a significant threat to the profit margins of the rights owner. A guy I know got a court summons after someone (presumably AMC) told his ISP they had evidence he'd been torrenting episodes of The Walking Dead prior to them being broadcast in his territory. He's unlikely to get a custodial sentence, but he'll probably get a fine and his ISP might disconnect him for a while, I guess. But in terms of gravity, it's a bit like getting a parking ticket, or having a shitload of unpaid parking tickets.
But even if the records have never been reissued and haven't been acquired by a bigger company (and who's to say they haven't?), the rights still reside with someone. Whether or not they have the means or the inclination to assert those rights is another matter. Legal action probably wouldn't be the first option the owner would take anyway. In the grander scheme of things, I doubt your friend has too much to worry about.
is there any way for (let's say) a south american record label to sue anyone in (let's say) europe for downloading an mp3 via a link on an internet blog (e.g. megaupload)? is this technically possible? legally possible?
Sure, though it is very unlikely.
I would guess that most South American labels are ultimately owned by large companies like Universal etc and they would have offices in most European countries.
As to your first post, don't be so sure that just because a record is old and on a small label that nobody has maintained the copyright, even if the label is long defunct. Chances are the opposite, really.
Again, the chances of any repercussions in this scenario are pretty much non-existent.
As long as there's people like PirateBay around torrents are much harder to stop. Which is why they occasionally take individuals to court and fine them ridiculous amounts to try and scare people off. Tv companies seem to be fond of sending out legal notices demanding people stop torrenting their shows or they'll force their ISP to disconnect them, but I imagine that is also some what of a scare tactic as it would take too much work to go after every downloader, and the ISPs would get a little upset about loosing so many customers.
It never happened to me and I hosted hundreds of full length brazilian LPs for years. I made an effort to stay away from the more commercially available stuff, but I doubt anyone is going to come after you for that.
Most of these questions have been answered.
One new twist is law firms finding everyone who downloaded a movie in one state (US) and sending each person a letter demanding the pay damages, which the firm then splits with the copyright holder. This recently happened in Oregon.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/04/estacada_woman_accused_of_ille.html
The chance of being caught illegally downloading is greater than 0, but not by much?