MP3 Sparks in the US?

DemonEyezs · **MP3 Sparks in the US? -** 09-17-2008, 02:41 AM

Hey, first post. Woot.
Cool website btw, liking it, like the discussions, gonna stick around.
I found mp3sparks which lead me here, but I wanted to know if anyone had figured out if the use of mp3sparks was legal in the US? Id be nice to know before I dish out alot of moolah on it.

tomhr · 09-17-2008, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DemonEyezs

Hey, first post. Woot.
Cool website btw, liking it, like the discussions, gonna stick around.
I found mp3sparks which lead me here, but I wanted to know if anyone had figured out if the use of mp3sparks was legal in the US? Id be nice to know before I dish out alot of moolah on it.

Hi, Demoneyezs, and welcome!

Is it legal in the US? Well, the RIAA, in all its press releases, says absolutely not. In fact, just for asking this question, the RIAA is tracking you down and plans to sue your grandmother.

But the funny thing is, there is no US federal law specifically addressing the question of buying music (as opposed to P2P "illegally" downloading music) from a company that is based in a foreign country. Likewise, there has been nobody arrested or sued in the USA for getting music from a Russian music site; hence, there's no case law about this. In short, what the RIAA is spouting is, so far, nothing more than theory. Now, I am not a lawyer (bulls**t, bulls**t, yada, yada, yada), but I prefer to think that until it's clearly demonstrated to me that this stuff is illegal, I'm gonna keep doing it. It's the same legal logic that Bushie uses to justify warrantless wiretaps.

solaris · **The RIAA learned from the best: Cato the Elder -** 09-17-2008, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DemonEyezs

Hey, first post. Woot.
Cool website btw, liking it, like the discussions, gonna stick around.
I found mp3sparks which lead me here, but I wanted to know if anyone had figured out if the use of mp3sparks was legal in the US? Id be nice to know before I dish out alot of moolah on it.

Hi DemonEyezs and welcome to the forum

The reason, that you (and probably many others) are questioning whether or not buying from these Russian/Ukrainian stores is legal at all, is because you only ever hear one side of the story in the big media - and always put there uncensored by the MAFIAA

And the MAFIAA will keep on doing this "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam"-thing* until EVERYONE in the world really BELIEVE that it is illegal to buy music outside your own country

*"Furthermore, I think Carthage should be destroyed."

Explanation: Roman statesman Cato the Elder would always end his speeches with some variation of this expression - even if he had not been discussing Carthage in the speech

phobozad · 09-17-2008, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DemonEyezs

Hey, first post. Woot.
Cool website btw, liking it, like the discussions, gonna stick around.
I found mp3sparks which lead me here, but I wanted to know if anyone had figured out if the use of mp3sparks was legal in the US? Id be nice to know before I dish out alot of moolah on it.

Buying music from allofmp3sparkstunes or any other foreign music store has yet to be proven legal or illegal. If you really think about it you are basically going to another country (via your data traveling through the various routers and wires that take you to another country) and buying a sond/cd. You then go back to your own country with the cd.

According to Title 17 Chapter 6 Sec. 602 of the USC:

Quote:

(a) Importation into the United States, without the authority of the owner of copyright under this title, of copies or phonorecords of a work that have been acquired outside the United States is an infringement of the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords under section 106, actionable under section 501. This subsection does not apply to —
...
(2) importation, for the private use of the importer and not for distribution, by any person with respect to no more than one copy or phonorecord of any one work at any one time, or by any person arriving from outside the United States with respect to copies or phonorecords forming part of such person's personal baggage;

So if mp3s, oggs, etc. are considered a phonographic record, then it is legal to buy them for personal use. If not, then no import laws apply and you can do whatever you want with them. Either way, it is legal for at least personal use of the songs (which is what almost all people use it for).