MP3 Downloads

[garffenator]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Utah

I have a question that I cannot seem to find an answer to, because many people just download free mp3 files from the Internet without thinking twice about it. However, I have some qualms about the legality of doing so.
I am interested in downloading mp3 files of music from The Legend of Zelda video game soundtracks for my little brother for his birthday. This is for strictly personal use only; I just want to make a CD that he and I can listen to for fun. We own the games, but not an actual copy of the soundtrack. However, the soundtracks are fairly old and can now only be obtained online through places like Amazon Marketplace. Some of them are foreign imports. There are no mp3 files available for purchase and download anywhere. However, several sites have the files for free, and so I sent an email to Nintendo about them. This is what they told me:

"We appreciate the interest in downloading MP3 files of the Zelda game music. Being a Zelda fan myself, I can certainly undersand your interest in these music files.

"Nintendo" is a registered trademark of Nintendo of America Inc. Nintendo owns extensive intellectual property rights in all of its products, including video game systems, game titles, characters, game software, graphics, artwork, music, and screen shots. Nintendo also retains rights in content on Nintendo's websites, including articles, artwork, screen shots and other files. Trademarks and copyrights for third-party games and characters are owned by the companies which market or license those products.

While we are grateful for all the requests for permission to download and use Nintendo properties, we are not able to grant such requests. We receive thousands of requests and do not have adequate staffing to review them all. Therefore, our general policy is to decline requests for permission for the use of Nintendo properties.

At this time, Nintendo does not offer music downloads like you are seeking. Also, the sites offering this music are not doing so with our permission.

Although we are unable to grant permission, use of Nintendo's properties without formal permission by Nintendo may still be allowed under the relevant laws of the particular jurisdiction involved. Thus, we encourage you to seek your own legal counsel if you have any questions about whether your particular proposed use is permitted without Nintendo's authorization. Nintendo cannot provide legal advice.

I have also forwarded your email to our Legal Department for further review regarding the websites that are offering this music to download. While you won’t be contacted further regarding this issue, we appreciate your taking the time to provide us with information about these sites. If you see other sites infringing on our copyrights in the future, please email the specific details to the following address:

[email protected] "

I am wondering especially about the second to last paragraph. Does this mean that I could legally download these files for personal use? The websites I have looked at are these:
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Original Sound Track MP3 Downloads
Zelda Reorchestrated Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda Soundtracks - Zelda Universe - All the Zelda info you need.

The first website has this to say about the legality of their operations:
Galbadia Hotel - Legal Information

I am quite confused. Maybe I should just give up the chase, but if there's a chance that I could really download these files, I would love to do so. Thanks so much in advance for your help!

 

[swalsh411]

It's not legal, but the chance that Nintendo is going to sue you personally for violating their copyright for owning an unauthorized Zelda soundtrack is zero. I would be more concerned with giving my credit card and other info to some shady foreign website. Buy it though Amazon to be safe.

 

[garffenator]

It's not legal, but the chance that Nintendo is going to sue you personally for violating their copyright for owning an unauthorized Zelda soundtrack is zero. I would be more concerned with giving my credit card and other info to some shady foreign website. Buy it though Amazon to be safe.

Thanks for your help! Would it be legal if I bought it through Ebay? That's what I'm planning to do.

 

[swalsh411]

What was not clear about my earlier answer? Something being for sale on ebay or Amazon Marketplace does not automatically endow it with legality. Your risk in terms of getting sued however is negligible.

 

[garffenator]

What was not clear about my earlier answer? Something being for sale on ebay or Amazon Marketplace does not automatically endow it with legality. Your risk in terms of getting sued however is negligible.

All right, I've gotcha. But I'm just wondering, what would be illegal about getting it on Ebay? I'd be paying for it, and I'd own the actual copy.

 

[The Occultist]

All right, I've gotcha. But I'm just wondering, what would be illegal about getting it on Ebay? I'd be paying for it, and I'd own the actual copy.

Nice try. Really, just don't try it. Replicating an item that is protected by copyright (and yes, "purchasing through ebay" is replicating the item) without the permission (in your interest, such permission should always be written) of the owner of the copyright is ALWAYS illegal. The fact is, you knew something wasn't quite right or else you would not have ended up on this site asking such a question. Also, the fact is, copying a COPYright protected item is illegal. Don't do it!

 

[cyjeff]

If you buy an item that you know is stolen, you are still guilty of a crime.

 

[garffenator]

Nice try. Really, just don't try it. Replicating an item that is protected by copyright (and yes, "purchasing through ebay" is replicating the item) without the permission (in your interest, such permission should always be written) of the owner of the copyright is ALWAYS illegal. The fact is, you knew something wasn't quite right or else you would not have ended up on this site asking such a question. Also, the fact is, copying a COPYright protected item is illegal. Don't do it!

I'm not exactly sure what you're saying. If I'm buying a physical album, newly packaged with a CD, I don't see how that counts as "replicating." Sure it's changing hands, but I'm not downloading files or anything. The actual copy of the album is going to me.
I'm not trying to find loopholes, I just want to make sure I understand.

 

[swalsh411]

Because the person selling/distributing it doesn't have the rights to do so. It doesn't matter whether they give it away for free or sell it for a million dollars. They don't have the "right" to "copy" it. That's at the most basic level what is meant by "copyright". It's not legal, but you're going to do it anyway.

 

[The Occultist]

Because the person selling/distributing it doesn't have the rights to do so. It doesn't matter whether they give it away for free or sell it for a million dollars. They don't have the "right" to "copy" it. That's at the most basic level what is meant by "copyright". It's not legal, but you're going to do it anyway.

I think I misunderstood. I read your post to mean that you would be on Ebay to purchase the opportunity to download the file.

The actual CD (the legal one made by a studio, not one made by a random person on their computer) may change hands no problem. Now, you are also allowed to create a digital backup of your legally purchased CD, meaning that yes, you may copy the CD over to your computer so that you have a backup. Here is where it gets fun: if you allow the CD to change hands, you are not longer allowed to retain any of your "backups", so all backups you have made must also go to the person taking the CD off your hands, and you are required to delete any backups on your computer.

Nintendo owns the rights to their music. The fact that they are choosing to not allow their music to be obtainable might seem like it's unfair, but it doesn't matter because they can do whatever they want with THEIR property. There really is no way around this. If you attempt to do what you're planning, I'm pretty certain you will be sued by Nintendo, and trust me, these copyright suits get costly in a hurry.

 

[garffenator]

Because the person selling/distributing it doesn't have the rights to do so. It doesn't matter whether they give it away for free or sell it for a million dollars. They don't have the "right" to "copy" it. That's at the most basic level what is meant by "copyright". It's not legal, but you're going to do it anyway.

Okay, so you're saying that any physical official CD (not mp3 files burned onto a disk) being sold on any website (like Ebay or Amazon Marketplace) is inherently illegal? Doesn't that mean they would've shut both of those sites down a long time ago?

It seems that you might have the same misconception as Occultist. I was originally wondering about downloading the files, which we have established as illegal. I am now proposing to buy the actual CD from a seller on Ebay. It is still in its original packaging and, as far as I know, official and not a burned copy.

 

[garffenator]

I think I misunderstood. I read your post to mean that you would be on Ebay to purchase the opportunity to download the file.

The actual CD (the legal one made by a studio, not one made by a random person on their computer) may change hands no problem. Now, you are also allowed to create a digital backup of your legally purchased CD, meaning that yes, you may copy the CD over to your computer so that you have a backup. Here is where it gets fun: if you allow the CD to change hands, you are not longer allowed to retain any of your "backups", so all backups you have made must also go to the person taking the CD off your hands, and you are required to delete any backups on your computer.

Nintendo owns the rights to their music. The fact that they are choosing to not allow their music to be obtainable might seem like it's unfair, but it doesn't matter because they can do whatever they want with THEIR property. There really is no way around this. If you attempt to do what you're planning, I'm pretty certain you will be sued by Nintendo, and trust me, these copyright suits get costly in a hurry.

Okay, so here's what I am actually proposing: I want to buy an official, new, packaged, imported Japanese CD of the soundtrack to the game from an Ebay seller. The seller is not in any way connected with Nintendo, but he or she is offering a copy of the actual CD. It would simply be changing hands. From your post, I seem to glean that this is legal. Correct?

I do not plan to download any files whatsoever; I just want to buy the CD from the seller and have it physically shipped to me. Is this legal? If it isn't, I most certainly will not do it. I am very concerned with being honest in all my dealings; this has nothing to do with whether or not I get caught and/or sued.

 

[swalsh411]

Okay, so you're saying that any physical official CD (not mp3 files burned onto a disk) being sold on any website (like Ebay or Amazon Marketplace) is inherently illegal?.

No I never said that. What I said was if that somebody who doesn't have the legal right to distribute a copyrighted work does so then that violates copyright law. There is lots of music that is public domain, either because the copyright expired or the creator allows free distribution.

MP3 is an audio compression file method. The fact that any given sound is in mp3 format doesn't have anything to do with whether or not it's copyrighted. You seem to be under the mistaken impression that anything that is "mp3" and/or downloaded is somehow shady just based on that alone and it's very hard to give a detailed answer to somebody who has such a poor understanding of the basic terminology.

Your question here has been answered and all you're doing now at this point is trying to find a loophole.

If you attempt to do what you're planning, I'm pretty certain you will be sued by Nintendo, and trust me, these copyright suits get costly in a hurry.

Oh come on. Billions of copyrighted songs are downloaded every day through newsgroups, bittorrent, P2P, etc and only a very miniscule number of people have been sued by the RIAA. I'm not trying to justify piracy but to say you are "pretty certain" he would get sued is pure hooey.

 

[The Occultist]

Oh come on. Billions of copyrighted songs are downloaded every day through newsgroups, bittorrent, P2P, etc and only a very miniscule number of people have been sued by the RIAA. I'm not trying to justify piracy but to say you are "pretty certain" he would get sued is pure hooey.

You raise a fair point, especially since Nintendo isn't actually all that aggressive in protecting their IP's (case in point would be the large number of ROM sites that have stood the test of time), but I'm still a fan of throwing out a little scare tactics to help pursuage somebody from doing the wrong thing.

 

[divgradcurl]

Okay, so here's what I am actually proposing: I want to buy an official, new, packaged, imported Japanese CD of the soundtrack to the game from an Ebay seller. The seller is not in any way connected with Nintendo, but he or she is offering a copy of the actual CD. It would simply be changing hands. From your post, I seem to glean that this is legal. Correct?

I do not plan to download any files whatsoever; I just want to buy the CD from the seller and have it physically shipped to me. Is this legal? If it isn't, I most certainly will not do it. I am very concerned with being honest in all my dealings; this has nothing to do with whether or not I get caught and/or sued.

Yes. If the seller is a U.S.-based seller, and is importing these CD's for resale, the seller might be doing something illegal, but you, as a buyer, are not. See 17 U.S.C. 106.

If the seller is Japan-based, then you can legally import a copy for your own personal use. See 17 U.S.C. 602(a)(3)(B).