Modern technology makes it convenient for people to rip DVDs and share them with others. While U.S. copyright protection laws prohibit the copying, selling or giving away of copyrighted motion pictures under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, other types of circumstances make it okay to rip certain DVDs.
History
In 1998 the U.S. Congress instituted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as a means of fighting multimedia piracy. The DMCA establishes modern day copyright laws and penalties. Selling or redistributing copyrighted work without permission can result in significant fines and/or jail time.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons is an organization that abets the sharing and distribution of creative work, including movies. Licensing conditions allow creators to set up the type of permissions they wish to apply to their work. For instance, an attribution license lets other copy the work of the artist with appropriate attribution. It is not illegal to copy or rip the work of DVDs that are under open licenses with Creative Commons.
Backing Up Software
Backing up copies of copyrighted software is legal under the DMCA. Backup copies can be stored on a hard drive, such as someone's computer, for individual or educational use. However, copies of backed-up software DVDs may not redistributed for money.
Public Domain
If DVDs are public domain, it means that they are not protected by intellectual property laws, or that the terms of their rights have expired. Public domain DVDs are therefore available to the public for copying.
Tags: Creative Commons, copy work, Digital Millennium, Digital Millennium Copyright, Millennium Copyright