Advert encouraged infringement of copyright laws

It has been claimed that a recent advertisement run by a hi-fi manufacturer actually encouraged listeners to break laws relating to copyright in the advertisements.

With more and more people having access to broadband services these days the problem over illegal practices that infringe on copyright have been at the centre of controversy for some time. It has now been claimed that a hi-fi manufacturer that was running advertisements about one of its products actually encouraged viewers to break the law through copyright infringement.

Although the advert may have seemed innocent enough many claimed that it advised people that they could do something that is still seen as breaking the law in the UK. The company was advertising the Brennan JB7 music player, which is a hard disk-powered device that is able to store up to five thousand CDs. The company advertised the device as a good way to “save space and clutter” and get “near immediate access to an entire music collection”.

After the advertisement a complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority. The complaint claimed that the advert was encouraging viewers to break the law because in Britain it is illegal to copy music without the permission of the copyright holder, which includes ripping music from a CD to a digital format.

The manufacturer of the device, 3GA, told the ASA that it was “not aware of any owners of the product being charged for, or convicted of, infringing copyright and therefore there was no evidence that the ad incited customers to break the law”. However, the ASA concluded that the advert “misleadingly implied it was acceptable to copy CDs, vinyl and cassettes without the permission of the copyright owner”.

Source – Telegraph