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My friend recently bought a VHS tape of old 70's commercials from Ebay. He bought it for 20 dollars and it had more than few bids. It's basically a blank tape with hours of commericals. Anyway, he made a few more tapes of it and is planning to sell them on Ebay. Isn't he breaking some law here? What do you think?

Unless there is a copyright law for old commercial ads i see no problem.

So, basically we can buy blank tapes of shit, copy them and sell them just like the person we bought them from?

Let me clarify what I mean. If the 70's commercials were recored by the person who is selling them, would he be in a position to demand money from the next person who sells the tapes?

he could advertise it cleverly. for example: Blank Tapes for Sale. Tapes contain commercials from 1970s, sold as is. this way he's only selling the tapes themselves, not what's on the tapes, and doesn't have to worry about copyright infringement as much.

Darth_Zod wrote:he could advertise it cleverly. for example: Blank Tapes for Sale. Tapes contain commercials from 1970s, sold as is. this way he's only selling the tapes themselves, not what's on the tapes, and doesn't have to worry about copyright infringement as much.

That's really about the only way he could do it. Commercials, like other broadcast programs, are protected under copyright law. If he sold the tapes specifically for the commercials, he would be setting himself up to be sued by the advertising companies who created the commercials.

Darth_Zod wrote:he could advertise it cleverly. for example: Blank Tapes for Sale. Tapes contain commercials from 1970s, sold as is. this way he's only selling the tapes themselves, not what's on the tapes, and doesn't have to worry about copyright infringement as much.

IANAL

Don't think that would fly!

For example

"Blank RW Discs for Sale. RW Discs contain games from 2004s, sold as is" would get you into trubble real quick

maybe. it depends on how anal the lawyers in question are willing to be, i would imagine, as well as the companies that made them. unless he specifically listed the commercials themselves individually, then he might be screwed. course corporate laws tend to be rather tricky . . . .the wording makes all the difference.

Uhhh... I don't think I am making myself clear. Ok, yes, maybe the commercial companies could sue the guy who is selling these on Ebay. Let's forget about him for a moment. I am talking about my buddy who wants to copy what he bought from the original guy. Could he get in trouble for copying the other dude's product? That's what I am asking.

Superman wrote:Uhhh... I don't think I am making myself clear. Ok, yes, maybe the commercial companies could sue the guy who is selling these on Ebay. Let's forget about him for a moment. I am talking about my buddy who wants to copy what he bought from the original guy. Could he get in trouble for copying the other dude's product? That's what I am asking.

the commercials are copyrighted to the companies that made them, not the guy that sold the original tape with the commercials, so no. he couldn't get in trouble with the original guy.

Superman wrote:My friend recently bought a VHS tape of old 70's commercials from Ebay. He bought it for 20 dollars and it had more than few bids. It's basically a blank tape with hours of commericals.

For that, he's stupid.

Anyway, he made a few more tapes of it and is planning to sell them on Ebay. Isn't he breaking some law here? What do you think?

For that, he's even stupider.

I think those old 70's commercials are still owned by someone. Im sure they are violating an agreement in one sense or the other. On the other hand I doubt anyone is gonna come looking for him.