Posted by Rick Denney on January 28, 2002 at 15:42:54:
In Reply to: Copying, Legally posted by John Caves on January 27, 2002 at 12:42:25:
The answer is, no, it is not legal. Period. The only way to copy something that is copyright protected is under the fair-use provision, which limits the amount being copied to an excerpt, unless you have written permission from the copyright holder. Having poor eyesight, or being a non-profit school, or a church--none of these get you off the hook, legally.
BUT, the copyright owner's legal rights extend only to the damages, plus the costs of obtaining those damages. In your scenario, the damages are limited to the cost of one set, assuming that you are paying your performing royalties, and so on. This is not going to tempt the copyright holder into suing you for copyright infringement. Now, if you record your octet, and the CD sells millions of copies, then you'd have had to pay more to use the work in any case.
Whether or not it is morally correct is a slightly different question than whether it is legally correct, except that one provision of morals suggests that we follow all laws. I'll leave the answer to that question to you and your conscience.
Rick "keeping his personal answer to himself" Denney