Copying Music- Mutar or Ossur???

Wolfish musings! Judaism isnt emotion based. Halachah IS right and and wrong.

Yashrus,

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Naval B’r’shus HaTorah.”

The Wolf

“Halachah IS right and wrong.”

Yet I think we would all agree that there are plenty of things one could do that would be *technically* within the letter of the halacha but would nevertheless violate it in spirit. For example, it would be technically halachically permissible to leave a TV on before Shabbos in order to watch it after Shabbos starts (this is assuming one already owns a TV and watches it during the week; let’s not get into the TV discussion here.) But doing this would without question be wrong for a person who is Shomer Shabbos. I remember asking my fourth-grade teacher this question, and I’ll never forget her answer: “Well, you certainly could, but the question is whether or not you should.”

there are many grey areas (can you copy one song? two? what if it’s your sister’s cd? what if she’s married? can you copy from someone, intending to erase it later? etc, etc, etc) As in all things, ASK your Rav, and follow what he says. That is your Da’as Torah. Good Luck.

P.S. I think this is such a big nisayon for our generation. it’s so easy to do, noone has to know, so many do it… but in most/many cases, it’s assur!

From a strictly halachic standpoint, it is Muttar to copy Cd’s. It is YOUR property, and Halacha doesn’t recognize an idea or intelectual concept as something which can be copyrighted, and thus it can’t ever be considered ‘stolen’.

Therefore, many CD’s now say on the flap, that they are not being sold to you-only leased. In this manner, there IS an Issur Geneiva. There is a sefer that was published dealing on the matter of Copyrights (I forgot what it is called) and in that Sefer, he gives advice to those singers who don’t want their CD’s to be copied. He composed a text describing the ‘sale’ as merely being a lease, and therefore subject to the terms of the leasing agreement. I have seen that exact text quoted verbatim on CD flaps. In only those instances where that is written on the CD, is it Geneiva to copy them.

From a strictly halachic standpoint, it is Muttar to copy Cd’s. It is YOUR property, and Halacha doesn’t recognize an idea or intelectual concept as something which can be copyrighted, and thus it can’t ever be considered ‘stolen’.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. Historically, Rabbonim *have* issued “copyrights” to publishers of seforim in the past. For example, if someone put through the effort to have a Shas printed in a town, then no one in that area could print another Shas for a certain number of years. This was done to encourage people to print seforim and put the effort into publishing them. If this was done for a work that we would consider “public domain” (such as the Gemara, the Rambam, etc.), then certainly it would have been done for newly created works.

While the historical precedent doesn’t cover copyright as we know it today, to say that Rabbonim did not recognize the idea of intellectual property is just wrong.

The Wolf

I’ve spoken to someone in the music industry about this, and yes, they lose money every time someone copies their music – those copiers would normally buy those cd’s or tapes – and it would seem to fall under the category of geneivah. in mishpacha magazine they had an interview with mbd and he said he loses tons of money from this.

Wait wait wait. In the (now closed) bowling thread, people were so quick to say that though going into a bar to relax and have a kosher drink with a chavrusa may not be assur al pi halacha, it is WRONG in that it’s not a “kosher place to be” and violates the spirit of the law. Now, here, we have people saying that “al pi halacha” defines “right and wrong” in and of itself and that essentially there is no “spirit of the law.”

Make up your minds, rather than spouting off things when they suit you.