Re:The Big [Censored] Theory
by cxr on Tuesday August 30, 2022 @06:13PM
(#32655843)
> There's no such thing as "right to rent video."
There is, strictly speaking—it's part of the exclusive rights that Title 17 lays out for copyright owners[1]. It's just that (a) it forces you to be in the business of doing the rentals yourself (you don't get to just point at someone with an interest doing rentals and dictate terms to them, sans contract), and (b) even if you're doing your own rentals, if you're also selling copies, then there's nothing stopping someone from doing an end-run around your rental business by just buying a copy from you and doing things their way with that copy.
(Granted, this doesn't make the person you were replying to any more correct about what they meant when they said you couldn't do this.)
1. "distribute copies [...] by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending"
There is, strictly speaking—it's part of the exclusive rights that Title 17 lays out for copyright owners[1]. It's just that (a) it forces you to be in the business of doing the rentals yourself (you don't get to just point at someone with an interest doing rentals and dictate terms to them, sans contract), and (b) even if you're doing your own rentals, if you're also selling copies, then there's nothing stopping someone from doing an end-run around your rental business by just buying a copy from you and doing things their way with that copy.
(Granted, this doesn't make the person you were replying to any more correct about what they meant when they said you couldn't do this.)
1. "distribute copies [...] by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending"