Woman files suit over new CD's (1 Viewer)

[Glenn Overholt]

I got this from the morning paper
"Woman files lawsuit because CD won't play in computer.
SAN FRANCISCO - A woman has sued for unfair business practices over a Charley Pride CD that she says won't play in her home computer because of techhnology to thwart unauthorized copying and sharing of digital music.
Karen DeLise sued Music City Records and SunnComm Inc., sayint the CD won't play in her home computer or allow her to convert the song tracks into MP3 files.
SunnComm's technology alows the CD to be played in conventional devices such as stereo systems and portable CD players. Computer CD drives, however, will not play it."
Does she have a leg to stand on, as they say, or is this going to bust the whole thing wide open? It is for her personal use. Maybe the computer software manufacturer should have been sued too.
Glenn

 

[Ryan Spaight]

It's worth noting (especially on this forum) that this copy-protection tech also prohibits playback on DVD players.
Ryan

 

[Anthony Hom]

I'm not a lawyer, but here's my take:
While a record has the right to implement these copy protection schemes to prevent un-authroized copying, the definition of "un-authorized copying" is what's in question. If this is a generic blanket copy protection, then they could be accused of assuming people committing crimes before the fact (i.e., un-authorized copying). Traditionally, through home duping laws, we are allowed to make copies for personal use, but the copy protect may imply that she intended to copy and distribute the music illegally, which is unfounded as yet. so is it wrong to assume someone is going to violate the copyright law before the fact?

 

[cafink]

I can't stand this new "copy protection" baloney, and I hope to high heaven that she wins the suit.
That said, I seriously doubt she's going to. We're allowed to duplicate CDs and other copyrighted material all we want, as long as we're doing it for ourselves in the privacy of our own home. The CD in question, like any other CD, is just an optical disc containing a long string of ones and zeroes. She doesn't have the technology to make a copy of the particular string of ones and zeroes contained on this particular CD — how is that the fault of the disc's manufacturer?

 

[Iain Lambert]

Has anyone seen one of these things? If there is a CD logo anywhere on the box or disc then they are using false advertising. This in no way conforms to Red Book Audio standards and frankly doesn't deserve a single sale.