Re: (idm) Re: Autechre / Copyright infringement (fwd)

From rbc3
Sent Wed, May 20th 1998, 06:33

Seems to me I remember a friend telling me about a production T-shirt
he made with Yoda on in.  Lucas Film got wind and filed a cease and
desist order.  He stopped production on the T-shirts upon receiving
the court order.  As far as I know Lucas could only sue for money if
he continued to profit on production of shirts manufactured after the
order.

I'm pretty sure music is the same way.  So even if Warp tried to sue
they would have much to get through before actually trying to get
money.  Plus if no money was being made off the tracks and they are
out of production a judge would have a pretty hard time granting much
of a settlement.  Probably a small fine would be more in line.

I don't understand the big piss about mp3's is anyway.  There's
thousands of hours of the shit out there from live recordings to you
name it.  Hell, there's worse offenders!  Should a DJ get sued for
making a real audio broadcast from a private site?  Should I get sued
if I make a tape of my favorite tracks and give it to a friend?  I'm
not making a profit and THEY'RE not loosing money, so what's the big
deal?  Hell, my friend might be more inclined to go out and BUY the
record or CD of a song she liked on a tape I made her.

It's one of those boarder line issues, but the law is on the side of
the copywrite owner.  I doubt Warp is having a hard time selling
records though.  They ought to lighten up, IMO.

-rbc3