Change vhs format to dvd
- December 5, 2006 @ 2:58pmfkuyken says:Is it legal to change vhs recording to dvd even if a dvd format is available for purchase? If possible, please cite the source of the answer. I need to have hardcopy documentation when I make my presentation to the committee.
- December 5, 2006 @ 3:17pmCOvalle says:It depends. For personal use, I'd say probably. For other uses, probably not. We'd need a bit more information. Would this be for a personal use, or for an institution (which I assume because a committee is involved)? What kind of institution is it? Is it a non-profit academic institution, or non-profit library? What are your reasons for wanting to change formats?
Reproduction is usually one of the exclusive rights of the copyright holder. You'd have to try to justify it using an exemption such as fair use or the libraries and archives exemption. However, generally speaking you would not be able to take advantage of the libraries and archives exemption if the DVD is still available for purchase. The text of that part of copyright law is available at
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#108 - December 10, 2006 @ 6:31pmksmith says:Another place you might want to look is section 112(f) of the copyright act, since it directly addresses such conversion. The section is difficult to sort through, but it seems to allow copying for the purpose of employing the TEACH Act (110(2)) in subparagraph (1) and then says, in subparagraph (2), that this permission to copy is not permission to convert from analog to digital unless the work is unavailable in digital format or the available digital version is protected by technological measures that make the permitted transmission impossible. So there is a small window in which conversion is allowed even when a digital format is available, but it is cast exclusively in terms of materials authorized for transmission by the TEACH Act that carry some form of DRM. So, as COvalle says, your reason for wanting to change formats is very relevant.
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