[ExtractStream] Re: My dangerous idea.

[sharkey@a...]

> As far as the reference to Ms Litman's statements are concerned I'm 
> afraid I might have been quoting her out of context. I've loaned the 
> book out so I can't easily check the details. I think she might have 
> been specifically referring to digital copies. I believe the theory 
> is that if the copyright is for a digital document (eg a CD) then any 
> time a copy is made, even an ephemeral copy of a portion in RAM in 
> order to present the contents, that an act of infringement has been 
> committed unless a licence is obtained whether or not there is any 
> commercial aspect to the act. I might try to look this up sometime 
> this weekend.

For computer programs this is explicitly allowed by section 117:

[I]t is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer
program to make or authorize the making of another copy [..]
provided [that it] is created as an essential step in the utilization
of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is
used in no other manner.

I don't believe the term "computer program" is actually defined explicitly,
but I believe this could be extended to any digital work which requires
copying within a device as an "essential step in the utilization" of the
work.

Otherwise, CD players with anti-skip buffers could be viewed as copy
devices, which is just silly.

Eric