Consumers today are faced with confusing decisions about the law and duplicating media. With so many free downloads available on the Internet it is often difficult to determine what is legal and what is not legal to download. With the heightening technology that is available to everyday consumers many individuals find it impossible to get a straight answer to their questions.

When is it legal?

If you buy the music can you own a copy?

How about recording movies from TV or music off the radio?

Can you legally loan your favorite movie to a friend?

Let's take a brief glimpse at the law and duplicating A DVD, and hopefully ease some of the confusion. This overview of copyrights is designed to introduce you to the basic laws that are involved in copying software, movies, music, and other copyrighted materials.

What is Protected by Copyrights?

All media forms are protected by a copyright, including: movies, music, and reading material. Copyrighting is a way to protect the owner of the work by giving them the rights to control and distribute the material. The owner of a copyright may decide to sell it for money or give it away for free.

Shareware and freeware are examples of free distributing software given to individuals by the creator of the software. These are designed and built by the company and could be sold to individuals but instead this software is given away at no cost. Every company or individual, that retains copyrights to material, has to decide the best way to distribute his or her information. Many companies find that offering free basic software will bring clients in for upgraded versions of the software. But most DVD and music copyrights are not legally free for copying.

Companies that give their information away fro free are not interested in protecting their copyright. In cases such as this you can freely copy the CD or DVD, because the copyright is not protected. Other software programs are protected and the owner of the copyright will usually charge a fee to purchase the software or get a code to download the software. Any copyright holder can choose to assert their copyright.

If you copy a piece of media, such as a DVD, without the consent of the copyright holder it is illegal. You should always refer to the copyright when considering duplicating a DVD. Even duplicating copyrighted material for your own use is often illegal. Music, DVDs, and software programs are all copyrighted material that cannot be duplicated without the express written consent of the copyright holder.