The Bundesverfassungsgericht, the federal constitutional court in Germany has rejected a complaint by a consumer that copy protection mechanisms on DVDs and CDs are a major disadvantage to consumers and conflict with private copying rights. The court didn't recognise a disadvantage to consumers because of copy protection on DVDs and CDs so gave no decision before the consumer would have to follow normal civil procedure against the manufacturer.
However, the worrying part is that the court also commented on fair-use rights of entertainment products purchased; it doubted that the constitution provides a right which would make home copying of movies legal. The problem is that in most countries, copying for private use is considered legal, but circumventing copy protection mechanisms isn't. For this reason, both conflict in many situations as most of the DVDs you buy are copy protected.
The consumer was contesting about provision 95a German Copyright Law which gave rightsholders the right to include copy protection on their products and also prohibits the circumvention of such protections. However, just back in April a French court came to a completely different decision and ruled copy protection measures on DVDs were incompatible with private use and were prohibited, overturning an earlier decision that denied private copying was a right.
Source:
CoCo
Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 Sep 2005 17:51
German Constitutional Court doubts existence of a private copying 'right'
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- 15 comments
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jAmEsTn
these matters need to be resolved outside of court... perhaps in the parking lot!...
11.9.2005 22:47 #1
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S2K
and the french cae was subsiquenty overturned.
12.9.2005 01:51 #2
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GrayArea
The Bundesverfassungsgericht exsists to protect the interests of big business and the wealthy. It is almost humorous that an ordinary German citizen would think that they (the Bundesverfassungsgericht) would hand down a ruling unfavorable to copyright owners. I am not singling out the Bundesverfassungsgericht. Courts and lawmakers in most developed nations are pets of the elite.
12.9.2005 08:00 #3
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chesty
If this is the case in germany you can't make a movie for personal use if it involves copy protection circumvention like in the united states and the dmca then why are people so retarded that they would knowingly buy copy protected cds and dvds ?
People in the entertainment business considers the buying public to be stupid dumb and retarded and see a sucker coming a mile away.
Like w.c. fields used to say " there is a suckwer born every minute. "
They refer to the buying public as consumers not customers.
The average consumer is ignorant about tech issues and does not know he is getting ripped off blind.
I won't even mention apathy from the general public.
In the united states the us copyright office is just as incompenantly run as the fema office after the hurricane in new orleans.
People in the united states congress shamelessly take kickbacks and bribes from the entertainment cartels.12.9.2005 09:19 #4
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chesty
If this is the case in germany you can't make a movie for personal use if it involves copy protection circumvention like in the united states and the dmca then why are people so retarded that they would knowingly buy copy protected cds and dvds ?
People in the entertainment business considers the buying public to be stupid dumb and retarded and see a sucker coming a mile away.
Like w.c. fields used to say " there is a sucker born every minute. "
They refer to the buying public as consumers not customers.
The average consumer is ignorant about tech issues and does not know he is getting ripped off blind.
I won't even mention apathy from the general public.
In the united states the us copyright office is just as incompenantly run as the fema office after the hurricane in new orleans.
People in the united states congress shamelessly take kickbacks and bribes from the entertainment cartels.12.9.2005 09:19 #5
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Xian
When the government passes and upholds laws that the majority of its citizens disagree with such as the current state of copyright law, then you are no longer being represented, but ruled.
12.9.2005 15:41 #6
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toney420
I wasn't going to comment on this article till I saw Xian's response. "When the government passes and upholds laws that the majority of its citizens disagree with such as the current state of copyright law, then you are no longer being represented, but ruled." Xian well said you couldn't be more on the $$$ with that statement.
13.9.2005 14:53 #7
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A_Klingon
Quote:... why are people so retarded that they would knowingly buy copy protected cds and dvds ? In all honesty, I don't think they would (unless they really, absolutely have to have a certain DVD or CD title.)
The vast majority of these BUM DISCS are not marked in any way. If they were, sales would plummet. In fact, I have lately had all sorts of experience with TV box sets where only one of the discs are crippled - the rest are "normal".
I myself believe this should be a 100% outlawed practice, but Big Business doesn't care if I live or die. (You either).
Only by reverting to a much older OS (in my case, Win-98SE) and NOT installing any updates, patches or MS upgrades, was I able to copy the bum discs in question, without any further problems. To the very best of my knowledge, MicroSoft's newer operating systems (predominantly XP) AND all recently-manufactured dvd burners come with crippling devices that work hand-in-hand.
This never used to be the case. Be VERY wary of any "upgrades" you install, despite what you are promised by using them. In many cases it is simply more stringent DRM at work, and you may or may not be able to uninstall it without a major system overhaul.
And I guess we can all forget about backing up blu-ray and/or HD-DVDs for the foreseeable future too.14.9.2005 10:02 #8
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TekWiz
Problem is that most people don't agree or disagree with anything--they are just dumb. They just want to watch or listen to the latest release, and if they can stick in their player and it works they are happy. What can we do, with live in a world full of idiots. We can just grin and bear it while we're alive. And when it's time for us to die, that's a good reason not to feel to bad--at least we won't have to suffer knowing we are surrounded by idiots anymore... :-(
15.9.2005 11:00 #9
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TekWiz
A_Klingon, what are you referring to? Audio or Video discs? Aren't ALL hollywood DVD releases CSS protected, but can be copied anyway on any OS, such as WinXP with the deCSS decrypter and software such as DVD X Copy? As for CD audio discs there are a few protected ones but the protection is very micky-mousy, and each of of the methods has a work around, like holding down the shift key when FIRST putting in the disc. (To prevent auto-run from activating).
I don't think most people buying discs would not buy if it's copy protected--most people just want to hear it or see it and don't want to copy anything...15.9.2005 11:07 #10
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Chris1000
Problem is that many of the copy-protections that are supposed to be for our "protection from fradulent products" end up breaking the functionality of older equipment.
They had an article in Popular Mechanics where one person was complaining because his old DVD player wouldn't play the new DVD's because something about their copy-protection changed. And yes, it was the DVD's, because he was getting the copy-protection explaination straight from the maker of the DVD player.15.9.2005 20:39 #11
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mblatch
S2K I noticed that you say the French Case has been overturned?? When did that occur? do you have the case name or citation for the decision that overturns this Paris Court of Appeal decision. I have been trying to find out whether it has been overturned and this is the first mention of it i have seen. Thanks..
16.9.2005 00:48 #12
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duckNrun
I will sound like a parrot soon enough...lol
Short version:
Google H.R 1201 or better yet go to EFF.org and do a search there for it... take action for it... keep the fire going.. problem solved. On the other hand...do nothing... problem solved for RIAA and MPAA
17.9.2005 00:52 #13
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BabyMakR
just last week I had a dvd from the local video store and my dvd player couldnt even load it because they started using a new anti piracy method so I hired a legitimate copy and couldnt even watch it. so I put it through DVD decryptor then DVD shrik then Nero and hey presto i'm watching it in the comfort of my own house
17.9.2005 17:28 #14
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A_Klingon
TekWiz:
Quote:A_Klingon, what are you referring to? Audio or Video discs?DVD video discs, of course.
Anyone can crack CSS pretty much with the ripper of their choice. No, I'm talking about DVDs that have some miserable EXTRA copy-prohibiting-scheme on them - new cripplers that they keep coming up with every week.
For example, I've got THE SIMPSONS, SEASON 5 sitting in front of me right now. It's a 4-disc set. (Region 1)
Discs 1, 2, and 4 each contain one corrupt VOB file, while Disc # 3 is flat-out unreadable by my burner. My burner, an LG model, is one of those that support the newer DRM crap they have dumped on us.
All the discs play fine in both my set top players.
No Tekwiz..... they've purposely f----d up these discs over and beyond the usual CSS trash.17.9.2005 18:48 #15
