Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

General discussion

copywrite law help

Dec 30, 2005 3:17AM PST

I'm trying to search up the copywrite laws for music because I need to know if its legal to say post a download on my site with a song that is on the site or what not or say if I bought a cd and I have the songs on my computer because I riped it would it be illegal to send someone a song from that cd? I've tried to find the copywrite laws but my search isn't an easy one so any help is apreciated thanks.

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Depends on the country you're in and ...
Dec 30, 2005 3:30AM PST

The agreement you made with the musician, or the holder of the copyright.

But 99.99% of the time, in the US, a CD you bought is for your use and not for public performance. Putting it on a web site would be a public performance and since you are directly linked to said content, you are then an EASY TARGET.

Bob

- Collapse -
RE: Copyright law help...
Dec 30, 2005 3:41AM PST

The laws really depend on where you are located in the world. If you are in the United States, your two references should be the RIAA (Recording Industry Associateion of America) and the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 2000). If you live elsewhere a simply Yahoo or Google search for ''copyright laws'' (I think part of the problem you were having is the spelling...it's copyright, not copywrite) along with the name of the country/territory you live in.

In short, if you live in the US, you cannot provide a download of a copyrighted song, period, unless special permission has been given by the artist/music studio. Having the song simply play on your sight, with security measures in place to make sure someone cannot download the song, is an issue I'm not sure about, so I suggest checking the documentation provided.

Finally, no matter what country you live in, you should put a disclaimer on your site. If in your country you are allowed to offer the music for download, note that it may not be legal to do so in all countries, though it is in yours, and that website visitors should check their own local laws before proceeding. If you are simply playing the music on your site, and not offering it for download, state so, and why. Finally, remember that if you choose to stream music and not offer it for download, someone could read your source code, find out the location of the music file, and use that to download. Thus, you'll want to look into how to protect the content on your site.

Hope this helps,
John

- Collapse -
Playing a song on your web site in the US is a very risky
Jan 2, 2006 4:26AM PST

proposition. First, by playing it, you are sending it to the viewer's computer where is can be recorded. Second, you may be required to pay fees to the copyright owner if your site is in any way commercial. Restaurants, for example, must pay fees if they play copyrighted music. Same thing with radio stations. Third, if the source was copy protected, you may be admitting a violation of the DMCA simply by having it on your site.