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We researched this subject as thoroughly as we could, because we are not intentional criminals, and it turns out that provided we stay within critical limits copyright is probably not an problem. (I say ‘probably’ only because lawyers get involved, and certainly isn’t a word in their vocabularies.) And copyright law is going through some big changes.
It’s important you understand that we are not selling you a CD of music that has been illegally copied. We are providing a service that provides you with a single fair use, backup copy of something that you already own. And we fully respect the copyright of the original copyright holders.
The issue hangs around these concepts of ‘fair use’ and ‘backup’ These are the same concepts that meant you were not hauled off to jail when you made a cassette tape of your favourite LP way back when; and ditto when you make a backup copy of some software that you’ve bought. Both are “fair use” of what you own.
Here are some of the critical limits that we (and that means both you and us) must stay within, for “fair use” of a copyrighted disc you want transcribed and restored:
- You must personally own the disc, and the CD that we make for you must stay in the same ownership as the disk (you mustn’t keep the disc but give the CD to aunt Matilda; you mustn’t sell the CD by itself; if you sell the disc either the CD goes with it, or the CD must be destroyed).
- You may have only one fair-use copy of the disc, so you mustn’t make any further copies - either of the disc, or the CD.
- We will add the copyright information from the original disc onto the disc that we create for you, thus reinforcing the original copyright.
- We will not copy artwork from the disc sleeve.
However, if the disc you send us is over 50 years old (and many are!) things can get a little easier. If you want to discuss that with us, please do.
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