[Sussex] [OFF TOPIC] A Plea to the Myth community.

[Steve Dobson]

Nik

On Mon, Nov 28, 2005 at 09:03:28PM +0000, Nik Butler wrote:
> Okay so here is one for the copyright gurus.

I'm not a 

> I pay a TV Licence and a Sky + subscription. Tonight my Sky+ failed to 
> record "Strictly Come Dancing, It Takes Two". An ongoing, pain in the 
> rear, issue with Sky+ is the failure to record as promised.
> 
> So now the moral dilema:
> 
> Should I openly ask and seek a copy elsewhere from someone whom may have 
> recorded it [1] ?

I believe that the legal answer to that is no.  (Sorry I watched it
but I didn't record it.)

> Should I be allowed by the BBC or Sky to seek out another copy to 
> replace the one not available ?

BSkyB is not the copyright holder.  The copyright notices on the broadcast
identifies who owns the work.  I doubt that BSkyB even have a copy
themselves.  The BBC no doubt transmits a live feed of their broadcasts
to BSkyB's upload (to the satellite) ground station and BSkyB just send
in on.

> My personal view is that the BBC should make these and other shows 
> available to download on demand and that they could charge the (by now 
> traditional) 99pence for the benefit. I am aware they are planning to 
> do this next year, a move which made me feel proud to be British, but 
> for now im stuck.

I think the BBC broadly agree.  Having talked to one of the BBC's R&D
people about this I believe that the view of the BBC is as a licence
payer you have already paid and the BBC has a responsibility to make
those programmes available to you.

What I do remember very clearly from my talk is that the BBC can *not*
afford the bandwidth to make their content available on line.  The
estimated demand would be just to hight to afford the link to the 
Internet.  So the BBC are looking to P2P technology to get their
content out, and that we all help in delivering the load.

Steve

P.S.

While researching this e-mail I found the following in the copyright
act:

     67. -(1) It is not an infringement of the copyright in a sound 
     recording to play it as part of the activities of, or for the
     benefit of, a club, society or other organisation if the following
     conditions are met.

     (2) The conditions are--

	(a) that the organisation is not established or conducted for
	profit and its main objects are charitable or are otherwise
	with advancement of religion, education or social welfare, and

	(b) that the proceeds of any charge for admission to the place
	where the recording is to be heard are applied solely for the
	purposes of the organisation.

This might be of use to you Nik with your up and coming Expo.  Of course
it does mean that you can't take any profit that is made, but I don't see
that you can take you costs out of any money taken.

To read a copy of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 follow
the link below
    http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/Ukpga_19880048_en_1.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
Url : http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/sussex/attachments/20051129/ec94e4be/attachment.pgp