Is it Legal to Duplicate DVDs in Britain and in Other Countries?

To copy or rip DVD content to other formats as used in portable device or hard drive, which many people may have done several times, is regarded technically illegal as copyright infringement. But globally, some countries either explicitly allow it in certain circumstances or don’t forbid it.

Back to August 2nd 2011, news from Reuters reported that the British government will announce on Aug. 3rd about its plans to legalize the copying of CDs and DVDs onto computers or portable media players, but of course, just for personal use-key words that definitely could not be ignored. But then if you web search it you’ll discover that making private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner’s consent is currently illegal while the UK government’s new Digital Economy Act is likely to make copying CDs for personal use legal. The number of British who vote legal for CD ripping reaches 59% and 55% of them did this.

But in fact, such report outlawing the ripping of CD and DVDs has been scrapped by the government on Aug. 3rd, 2011.

In Australia and New Zealand, copy legally purchased music doesn’t breach the law if keeping to one’s own use and not distributing to others.

Then in the US, no certain rules explicit grant or deny a right of copying/ripping copyrighted DVDs to one’s own PC or portable devices.The Feds tried to legalize this action previously as well.

Well, as no countries actually precisely define private copy/ripping of CD/DVDs illegal, such issue hangs on air all these years. I suppose this is largely because copyright laws, the government and the copyright holders place much more attention on CD/DVD/BD pirating business for commercial purposes. That probably means that it’s OK to get backup content but keep it to your own.

DVD Ripping/Copying: Feds Considering Allowing DVD-Decoding Legal

When it comes to the issue of copyrights of DVDs, I encountered a saying someone commented online which goes like this: we still need locks for our doors when everyone on the planet has a key. Is it OK for people who purchased a DVD to get a backup copy by some encryption cracking tool? Is it illegal by the way?

To most people, personal use of ripping one’s purchased DVDs are considered just “OK”, which still goes against the law, as a matter of fact. Earlier this year, RealNetworks’ DVD-copying software is unlawful to be barred from distribution permanently according to Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

Yet, at UCLA Law School, Federal regulators considered testimony on whether to allow citizens and filmmakers to crack DVD encryption legally. Filmmakers, video mixers and others PETITIONED to the U.S Copyright Office for the ability of DVD copying. The center point is not about the legitimacy of using the copyright protected movies, but about the decoding tools. For legal use of DVD ripping/copying without breaching DMCA seems impossible since it won’t allow that.

The general counsel of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment, Clarissa Weirick, is side against all the decryption measures, which he said would bring up to large-scaled pirating copies. Warner Brothers headed to digital cloud to persuaded users away from pirated copies of DVDs. However, this method would be annoying since users have to drive to get the digital copy (which costs) with the DVD he just brought.
Supporters of not allowing encryption announced that users do not have the right to get movies ripped/copied, for they just brought the DVDs for playing but not the copyright of the movies. Besides, streaming movies online are available.

What Warner Brothers worried about did matter to some extent; just think about music CDs which are not protected from copied. Why not the DVDs then? Regulators are not expected to make any approvals until later this year, at a date not yet disclosed. Would this prevent/accelerate DVDs' vanishment because of BD and streaming?

Some also make joke like: if I buy a corn or other plants, I do not eat it as food, but I plant it and harvest. Do I have the right to sell them or just keep to myself for food? Or even could I plant it? What do you say?