On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 20:21:51 +0800 Dax Solomon Umaming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 1) Are P2P applications legal? I know this is a dumb question, but I > need a professional opinion on this matter. >
Why shouldn't they be? Just because they *can* be used to facilitate copyright infringement doesn't mean that they will be used as such. > 6) Is it legal to download copyrighted materials(mpegs, mp3s, pdf) > via P2P? <a> If not, how come no one's suing? <b> If not, can I still > use it for research (again, Fair Use)? <c> If not, can I claim that > it is my backup copy? > Of course not. The only reason why no one is suing is that they haven't got around to it yet. They're preoccupied suing single moms and deceased grandmothers who have never owned computers at the moment. Research? If you get sued that's the lamest defense possible. If you claim it's your backup copy, if you're actually prosecuted you have to be able to produce the original. > 8) Is it legal to digitize a book for personal or archival purposes? > Or any copyrighted material for that matter. Why not? As long as you don't redistribute the digitized version. Copyright generally controls distribution of covered content. You could make a million copies of a book, and provided that you neither gave nor sold any of those copies to anyone, you would be in violation of no copyright law anywhere in the world. > 15) In our country, is it legal to post 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 > 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 and 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2 > on my website, my email signature, print it on my shirt and wear it, > and spray paint it on buildings here in Baguio? > The Philippines doesn't yet have a DMCA-like law, so most of those acts are probably legal. However, it may not be legal to spray paint it on buildings in Baguio, as that might be construed as vandalism. :) > 20) Who oversees GPL here in the Philippines? The Filipinos who license their copyrighted materials under the GPL. There seriously is no one body anywhere in the world with the power to "oversee" the GPL. Individual copyright holders who license their works under the GPL are supposed to see to it that their licenses are being respected, just as any copyright holder should. > 21) Does FSF have power over GPL'd materials in the Philippines? and > to what extent? > The FSF would have power over GPL'd materials in the Philippines (or anywhere else in the world for that matter) only for materials to which they actually hold the copyright, such as GCC, glibc, Emacs, and so on. I have some code I wrote under the GPL, the FSF has no power over it, I do. The FSF would have power over their stuff, and I would have power over my stuff, to the extent to which Philippine copyright law allows. > 22) Can FSF demand we publish the source code of a product that was > developed on Philippine soil even if we're not distributing the > binary? > Of course not. The FSF cannot *demand* anyone, anywhere, to open up their source code for whatever reason, much less if you're not even distributing the said product (presumably based on their work). Let's get this bit clear once and for all: the GPL as written cannot force anyone to open up their code! If you get sued for GPL violation, the worst that can happen is that you get a copyright infringement conviction, and all that entails, e.g. fines, prison terms, an injunction against distributing the infringing materials, etc., but releasing your offending source is not one of these remedies that the court will apply. The FSF is well known, of course, for bargaining with offenders to comply with the license and distribute their source, at which point they drop the copyright infingement lawsuit, but that's quite different from being ordered by a judge to actually do it. -- If it was just a matter of spending money, Microsoft would deliver good products. http://stormwyrm.blogspot.com
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