Legalese: When a Tape Recorder is not an Audio Recorder
Wha? Leave it to the record industry (BTW, why are they still called the RECORD industry?!) to be orchestrate some stunt to ruin fair use for an end user. Their latest target: XM Radio.
Record companies are alleging that XM is stealing music by letting consumers store songs on their
“XM + MP3″ players. Normally a lawsuit that involves taping songs off of a radio is not allowed to be filed due to the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 with allows individuals to record music off the radio for private use. XM argued that since they are a “radio” provider – they should not be exempt from the recording law.
But the judge ruled that digital audio recorders are not synonymous to cassette tape recorders (for which the 1992 law was designed for) with regards to “fair use” laws indicating the XM may have violated the record companies copyrighted work.
