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[This message has been edited by One Bullet (edited 08-07-2001).]

I was under the impression that it was illegal to sell tapes. Is there something you know that I don't? lol

People do it all over these message boards, mostly on the tape trading link, I have bought, sold, etc.. for years other places, and here. I never claim I wrote the shows, I never claim I made the shows, so technically, some would say it's "illegal", some would say it's legal because I don't claim the rights like it's my show or something.. I'm actually in my 2nd year of paralegal studies at my college, and there is no way that anyone can single me out for selling tapes when they do it all over the internet, and this site included, Honestly I could be made to stop, but I couldn't be prosecuted because 75% of the episodes are NOT copyrighted on The Library of Congress website, and that is suppose to be the information the public goes by on copyrighted material, you are suppose to check with the Library of Congress, even if they were all copyrighted there, I will still always provide this family programming for people due to the trash on t.v. today, and due to the fact that only about 50 episodes have ever been on pre-recorded factory tapes. There have many companies to release these pre-recorded tapes, but they all release the same episodes over and over. Just because you see a little symbol on a t.v show when the credits roll that means copyrighted material, that symbol only means they wrote the show, and noone else can take credit for it, I don't take credit for them, I just record them. I have many people who I sell too, and I have people that I buy videos from. You may have never seen these posts because they are usually posted on the tape trading link, I just realized that there was a single message board just for each show like TAGS, I have always just been on the tape trading message board.

One Bullet

Yeah, but just because other peple do it doesn't make it right. Copyright law is not about whether you claim they are yours or not, but is about whether you SELL something that is legally the property of someone else. People steal cars all the time too, but you wouldn't want me to take yours. People counterfeit money all the time, but that doesn't make it right for me to pass funny money. It is illegal to copy someone else's music and sell it. It is illegal to copy someone else's tapes and sell them. It is illegal to copy someone else's photos and sell them. It doesn't matter if 10 people or 10 million other people are doing it, too; it is still illegal. It is about respecting the law and the property of others. As a paralegal, you should know that.

One Bullet, you are a master at rationalization, here and elsewhere. I assume you think it's OK for someone to steal your car because some people get away with stealing others?

Wow, Elmer, I'm glad you noticed that I'm rational. Stealing a car and recording yourself a TAGS tape are very different, and if you were not such as Jackass, maybe you would know that. Elmer, that sounds old, did you take your pill today Sir?, Too bad you had to use someone else's analogy from the other post to compare me to a car thief, you don't even have enough originality to make your own comparison, go take your nap Sir..

Oh, By the way, stealing personal property such as cars and then copyrighted property is totally different, some of you should get an education, then challenge people such as me (because others like me exist right here), challenge our views with REAL analogies and debates, not lame lines. We have "Equal Protection of the Law", this exists in Copyright Laws, but not in the theft of personal property, EVERYONE who steals property such as a car can be arrested, even if there are thousands more of them on the street, but people like me on this site can not be singled out due to "equal protection of the law", look it up, I did. If you don't want to read my posts because you don't agree with them, then that's fine, but don't start an argument on my posts, they are posted for people who want to see classic t.v., they are not posted for people who want to fuss because they don't have all the shows as well.

Last time I checked, these boards were for posting my opinions as well as your sales pitch.

You keep bringing up the fact that plenty of others do the same thing, as if that somehow makes you less of a thief. It doesn't.

Haven't courts ruled that it is legal to tape copyrighted material for your own use, but not for sale or distribution to others?

You didn't actually answer my question about your car, but it sounds like you wouldn't like to have it stolen.

I'm 50, OB, how old are you?

One Bullet,

I was determined NOT to respond to you again, because you seem to draw some perverse pleasure from abusing the law and then attacking people who offend it, but you really have gone to far when you call someone a Jackass and insult them the way you have this guest. I AM in the music business and I am also a writer and journalist, and your interpretation of copyright law as well as your ethics are WAY off base. Copyright law does not merely state who wrote a piece, but by placing the copyright symbol on any work I am staking a legal claim on it and declaring the RIGHTS to COPY the work are mine! Hence the word COPYRIGHT. The word COPYRIGHT means the exclusive, legally secured right to
reproduce a work and the copyright symbol indicates I am staking my claim. The mark itself is the first step in protecting the claim and legal protection begins as soon as I affix that little mark. To further protect my claim I should file it with the Library of Congress, but just the mark itself holds some
protection in the laws and courts of this land and stands up in court to a degree.

But the ethics are much deeper. Why you cannot grasp the idea of a creative work belonging to
someone else is beyond me. Why you feel like you are entitled to take, copy and sell someone else's property is a poor reflection of your moral and ethical upbringing. The fact that you feel justified in belittling, name-calling and attacking any person who disagrees with you is further proof that your motives have NOTHING to do with family values and everything to do with you making money and
getting your own way.

I am not sure why you think education plays such a role in your feeble attempts to justify selling illegal tapes, but if it means anything to do, I graduated summa cum laude from my university some years ago and went on to take post graduate courses. However, my brother who has several learning disabilities can also tell that someone else's property is not his to sell, so I don't think college education matters here. It is simply a matter of ethics.

The car analogy still fits: the car, the tapes, are legally the property of someone else who PAID to acquire the rights to them. Whoever TAKES an item belonging to someone else, whether it is a tangible physical item like a car, or an intellectual property like an idea, or a creative work -- the person who takes the property of another is a thief.

I hope the moderator of this board will take some action with these attempts to sell illegal tapes on this board, but this is my last response. I would recommend no one else follow up with One Bullet and just let him argue with himself over whether it is right or wrong to lay claim to someone else's property.

Well said, Thelma Lou. Thanks.