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Printing a copy of an article for your own personal use is only legal due to fair use / format shifting provisions, which aren't guaranteed in every country. I

by aethr 12y ago

Printing a copy of an article for your own personal use is only legal due to fair use / format shifting provisions, which aren't guaranteed in every country. In the countries that do allow this, there are guidelines to ensure that your "fair use" is done in the spirit of the law. In Australia there are fairly clear suggestions for what consitutes personal use. A few guidelines are: - you have to do it yourself - you can make a single copy - you can share the copy with members of your household or family, but no one else - if it's a copy of a physical work such as a book or CD, you have to make the copy yourself (ie, you can't download a movie that you own on DVD) I think no matter how you spin it or try to make it sound like fair use, this is a clear case of unauthorised distribution of someone else's work for a profit. If the matter ended up in court, their intent to follow the spirit of the law would be hard to argue.

MichaelGG 12y ago
How is it not exactly like printing it yourself? Would a CD or DVD burning service that let you upload an ISO (or link to one) be illegal?
- aethr 12y ago
  It's not exactly like doing it yourself because you're paying someone else to do it for you? Again, these grey areas are where the spirit of intent is going to matter. Is it illegal to pay a neighborhood kid to rip all your CDs to mp3? Technically yes (in Australia), but it seems reasonable to argue that it's within the spirit of format shifting provisions. Is it illegal for a company to sell customised "newspapers" filled with ad free content taken from ad supported sites? Again, yes. But in this case it feels to me like it may be harder to convince a court that the service is the same as printing out pages from a website on your own printer. I'm not a lawyer and I don't claim to be an expert. I do think this story has some parallels to the Aereo legal battle that's unfolding right now. I also think the writer of the original article is a bit up himself. Edit: maybe "illegal" isn't the right term to use, but rather, "in breach of copyright".

by aethr 12y ago

MichaelGG 12y ago

How is it not exactly like printing it yourself? Would a CD or DVD burning service that let you upload an ISO (or link to one) be illegal?

aethr 12y ago
It's not exactly like doing it yourself because you're paying someone else to do it for you? Again, these grey areas are where the spirit of intent is going to matter. Is it illegal to pay a neighborhood kid to rip all your CDs to mp3? Technically yes (in Australia), but it seems reasonable to argue that it's within the spirit of format shifting provisions. Is it illegal for a company to sell customised "newspapers" filled with ad free content taken from ad supported sites? Again, yes. But in this case it feels to me like it may be harder to convince a court that the service is the same as printing out pages from a website on your own printer. I'm not a lawyer and I don't claim to be an expert. I do think this story has some parallels to the Aereo legal battle that's unfolding right now. I also think the writer of the original article is a bit up himself. Edit: maybe "illegal" isn't the right term to use, but rather, "in breach of copyright".