[AUUG-Talk]: Downloading and playing legal music

[David Newall]

Chandana De Silva wrote:
> I am not sure about them. They are using a licence given by the Russian
> Multimedia and Internet Society, which may be legal in Russia. However,
> unless the Russian Multimedia and Internet Society has agreements with
> the owners of the copy right (the musicians and the record publishing
> companies) it won't be legal anywhere. Not to mention the fact that the
> said artists and publishers are being ripped off.
>   
There was an interesting case in Australia, back in the '80s, defended 
by a businessman who went to Thailand and bought a bunch of 
'photocopied' floppies containing top-selling software -- Lotus, Word, 
Windows and such -- and brought them back to Australia for use in his 
business, and prosecuted by the Federation Against Software Theft 
(FAST), representing the copyright owners.  What was interesting about 
that case was the FAST lost.  The courts held that the contract of sale 
was governed under Thai law, and that the software was legally purchased 
in that jurisdiction, and consequently there was no violation under 
Australia jurisdiction.