Quote:
Originally Posted by
bfdtv /forum/post/0
Remember,
copyright law grants the owner/author the exclusive rights for reproduction (copying) and distribution. Before the doctrine of fair use, you could not legally record a copy of a program for later viewing -- you had to buy a copy if you wanted to view it again.
Fair use is the legal doctrine that describes the "exception" to copyright law that permits consumers and educators to legally record content for their own personal use.
The same reason you would care if someone sold your property on ebay? Or the same person gave your belongings away for fun?
You don't have any right to distribute the works of others, be it a car, software, music, or television programming. Television programming is sold like any other content -- to the highest bidder for exclusive rights to distribute it via a certain channel or format, in a certain country, and at a certain time. Television content is sold to one channel here in the United States, to another channel in the UK, and to another channel in Japan. Each is broadcast with their own commercials (or sold by special subscription), and they don't necessarily air all at the same time. In some countries, certain content isn't broadcast at all, but rather shown in PPV format. Consider: If you were to record episode #18 of MGM's Stargate Atlantis off the UK's SkyTV next Tuesday, and upload it to the Internet, what incentive would people in the USA have to watch the same program when SciFi broadcasts it for the first time with their own commercials in July?
Taking the example of a sporting event -- major sporting events are often sold on DVD. If you upload a copy of the sporting event, you are depriving the studio of those revenues, which were probably factored into the event's expenses (ex: winnings) at some level. For example, NFL teams receive a portion of the revenue from sales of the Superbowl on DVD, and this goes toward the salary cap. If you uploaded a copy of the Superbowl to the Internet in high-def with DD5.1, what incentive would people have to buy that event on DVD or HD-DVD?