Hi,

I am an FML member/reader, and I work in the TV/Broadcast & Music
Industries.

Just a word of advice about recording programs/shows/etc. - i.e. - So
much as taping your local news broadcast is a violation of copyright
law. Are they going to know you taped something for personal use -
probably not. But distribute it freely, for profit or not, and you may
run into some problems. TV stations even charge for tapes of their
broadcasts - they are not free - and they own the content in that
broadcast.Yes we all record shows for our own use, and people have
dvr's and vcr's (LoL) with thousands of hours of shows on them. But
thats as far as it can go. You start distributing, and you are in
another ball game. You can get in trouble at that point. Taping
something and sending it to your brother, sister, cousin, etc. may be
one thing, and i'm know it happens everyday, all day, but taping it
and sending it out for shipping cost only, to multiple individuals,
even with good intent, is still a violation of copyright law.

I saw the ferret special, and PBS or not, it is a violation to record,
let alone distribute, whether you are making money or not. They do
have a DVD for sale, and someone could be upset if they found that
their content/program was being freely distributed. The show was
filmed/created by an australian film company, and there will be
international copyright laws involved as well. I do not know what
other partners have a stake in that program, besides PBS.

If the creators of that program knew that columbus ohio hosted the
biggest ferret show in the country, as the show made that very claim,
and they did their research on ferrets and ferret organizations etc...
it may be very possible that they are subscribed to this very popular
mailing list... wouldnt you think?

Just trying be be of some help, alot of readers see this info.

[HP]

[Moderator's note: Thanks for the clarifying text, HP. One correction
though: In 1984, in Sony Corp. of America vs. Universal City Studios,
Inc., the US Supreme Court ruled that recording television shows for
your own personal use only (i.e. "timeshifting") is legal. Thus, it IS
legal to tape "your local news broadcast" as long as it is not further
distributed or played for another audience. BIG]

[Posted in FML 5678]