[BC] Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' piracy argument

[Ron Youvan]

> I've heard that record companies get a royalty on "music CD" blanks. Is
> that so? Anyone know where it is in the US Code? And, if they DO, it seems
> that we are then paying a license fee and can make as many copies as we
> want, right? Or, what ARE we paying for?
   -  -  -  -
Blank music CDs and recorders

17 USC 1008 bars copyright infringement action and 17 USC 1003 provides for a royalty of 
3% of the initial transfer price. The royalty rate in Section 1004 was established by the 
Fairness in Music Licensing Act of 1998. This only applies to CDs which are labeled and 
sold for music use; they do not apply to blank computer CDs, even though they can be (and 
often are) used to record or "burn" music from the computer to CD. A similar royalty 
applies to stand-alone CD recorders, but not to CD burners used with computers.

Thanks to a precedent established in a 1998 lawsuit involving the Rio PMP300 player, MP3 
players are deemed "computer peripherals" and are not subject to a royalty of this type in 
the U.S.


   From:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_copying_levy#United_States
-- 
    Ron  KA4INM
         Youvan's corollary:  Every action results in
                              an unwanted side effect.