First, a disclaimer. We are not lawyers. This is our position and it may or may not be legally accurate. Please seek your own legal advise if you feel your situation requires it. Thank-you.

We have been asked about the legality of ripping and converting CD+G discs to hard drive. We would like to state our position and to offer our reasoning. Bear in mind that this is just our position and not legal advise. Laws vary from country to country so you would be best to consult your own jurisdiction and/or international copyright laws if you have any doubts.

The concept of copyright is pretty simple. If you create a work of art, including audio or video, you are entitled to protect your work including the copying of that work. Copyright holders should also be compensated for their work if they so desire.

Copyright infringement is also pretty simple. And this is key... If you copy someone's work without their permission you are breaking the law. The problem is this: What exactly is COPYING?

There are some things that are clear violations when it comes to copying. Some are:

• Making a copy of a CD that you do not own
• Making a copy of your own CD and giving it to a friend
• Taking a track from a cd, ripping it and giving a copy to someone who does not own that track, or making it available on the web

What is common in the above is that a work of art is COPIED and PASSED ON to someone else. We believe that true copyright infringment is a combination of the two concepts.

Clearly, to pass a copy off to someone else, some form of copying is involved, but does that mean all copying is illegal? We don't think so. If you make a copy of your own CD that you have purchased and you never give that copy away how does that harm the copyright holder? They have not lost a sale. Their work is not being given away or made available on the net or being passed on. This is the key. If the copy is not passed on in any way to someone else there can be no copyright infringement. A copyright holder may claim a violation took place, and the letter of the law might agree with them, but the spirit of the law should recognize that no harm, morally, or financially has occured. Some Countries have a law called "Fair Use" which accounts for this.

One other very important point here is that the original and the copy MUST NOT be used at the same time. Also, there should be no possibility that they could be used at the same time in different locations, because by doing so you've basically PASSED ON the copy, even if it is to yourself.

Let's take a moment to distinguish how these are different. A work of art can be a painting, play, song, video, etc. Let's consider a song.

The artist sings and/or plays instruments and that performance is recorded, otherwise it is lost. So clearly it is the performance that is copyrighted, not the media. In the process of producing a song for sale the performance might be transfered to tape or CD, recorded either by digital or analog means. The performance is edited and packaged. The final product is a means to DELIVER the performance to you. Does it matter what format the performance is in? CD, Tape, phonograph, or even computer file? No, it's just media.

When you purchase the song you are buying the performance not the media (ignoring the obvious reproduction costs etc). Ultimately to enjoy that performance you must play it back somehow, and the media is just the starting point of the performance that ultimately travels to your ears. Should the artist care how you listen to the performance? If you have purchased their song shouldn't you be able to choose how you listen to it? Should the artist care what type of cd player or speakers you use? If I use a portable player with "skip protection" (ie: memory) am I making an illegal copy? No, it's just part of the playback process of the legally purchased song. Can I tape that CD track for playback in my car? Yes. This has long been accepted as fair use. Can I transfer that CD track to a portable device (ie: MP3 player)? Yes. Media is storage. Tapes are analog and CD's are digital but both are just storage. A hard drive is storage. There is no difference. The difference is in the USE of that storage. If I choose to playback the song from the hard drive it's no different than from the orginal CD, a copy of that CD, a copied tape, or memory chip.

Think of it as a path. As long as the path does not split so that someone else can control the performance independently from the original then no infringement has occured.

So where is the problem? The problem is all about control. When you "rip" your track to your hard drive, or make an illegal copy the industry looses control of that performance. By making a copy it is EASY to PASS ON that copy to someone else. Because it is easy and cheap the recording industries are worried this will happen (and it does). The loss of control means lost revenue and so on. It is a problem... a big problem in fact. But because something is easy to do and is a potential for misuse does not mean that all copying is illegal. Again it is about control. If you can control how those copies are used and ensure that no ILLEGAL USE of those copies occurs then you should be able to choose how you playback your legally-aquired performance. It shouldn't matter if you play back the performance from the original, a copy of the original, or even the 100th copy. But TriceraSoft receives content already in MP3+G format, it is sold electronically and licensed for distribution as such.

The above only deals with personal copying and playback. Remember, that broadcasting copyrighted material is totally different. Just because you own a performance does not mean you can broadcast it. If you do broadcast and/or make money from such a broadcast you probably require permission and may need to pay a fee. Please ensure you comply with all broadcasting regulations. This requires special licensing and various other permimssions - cosult your copyright agent for more information.

If you are using our software to playback copied discs or ripped tracks we suggest the following:

• Keep your originals in a safe place, preferrably locked
• Keep all reciepts for originals and store them together or in a safe location.
• Make a copy of the receipt for your backup discs
• Label your backups with the copyright notice from the original disc AND put your name on the copy with a message something like: "This is a backup of an original disc legally purchased and owned by XXXX for the sole purpose of playback by XXXX. Use of this disc by any other individual is prohibited. Do not copy this disc! Original disc may be reviewed on request."
• Never lend out your original disc or any copy
• If you lose the original disc you should buy a replacement
• If you damage the original disc keep it as proof and use the backup
• Do not accept or use copied discs or tracks from any third-party or individual if you cannot verify it's validity.

It is our position that you have the right to make copies and/or transfer your original songs to any alternate media or storage system for playback provided that ONE and only ONE copy is used for performance at any one time and that all copies must be controlled so that no illegal copying (ie passing on of any of those copies) can occur. Make sure to lookup information in your region on any Performance licensing and/or digital hard-drive licenses.

If you have comments or feedback we would be happy to hear them. Please contact us.

TriceraSoft (feedback@tricerasoft.com)