Does this seem all right to you? There is a company that sells pre-loaded iPods, charging people for the service of buying specific DVDs, loading them onto iPods, and then selling them to you. Customers pay for the DVDs, the iPod, and the loading service, and they get everything they bought in the transaction, DVDs included.

For people who don't know anything about video loading or who just want to make a special gift for someone tech-savvy, this doesn't really sound like such a bad deal. For the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), however, it's something they don't like. The MPAA is suing Load 'N Go Video for performing said actions because, according to the MPAA, ripping a DVD is against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and, thus, a violation of copyright.

Here's a problem to think about though. Is it illegal to rip the media you legally purchased onto your iPod? One thing the author of the article brings to light is something Apple did during the early years of the iPod, citing an article from MacWorld and putting in the forefront the idea of fair use:

At the end of the event, we all took home pre-release versions of the iPod, which were already loaded with music. To make the point that the iPod wasnÂ?t meant as a vehicle for music piracy, our iPod packages also contained a stack of audio CDs, the contents of which matched the music pre-loaded on the iPod.

That being said, why can't these DVDs be fair use as well?

One story that's been making the blog rounds recently is the one where Circuit City allegedly violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by way of a DVD video transfer service. For ten bucks, Circuit City'll take your DVD and rip it into iPod format. For $20, they'll do three, and for $30 they'll do five. The sign even had a caveat: "Transfer must be from an original copy of your DVD collection." Grammatically incorrect, but a caveat nonetheless.

Blogger Seth Finkelstein of Infothought did some fact-checking on his own and called Circuit City. He was able to speak to Bill Cimino, Circuit City Director of Corporate Communications, who said:

"The sign is incorrect and not authorized and we are in the process of making sure the sign is removed."

"We offer two services. In a small number of stores, we will transfer your commercial CD's to a DVD, and in other stores, we will transfer your home VHS to a DVD. We do not transfer pre-recorded VHS or DVD, to DVD."

Thing is, though, the Circuit City store where the sign was displayed is already in a lot of hot water. Chapter 12 in the copyrights section of the US Code specifically states that "No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, thatÂ?". Yep, they certainly seem to fall under that "offer to the public" part.

It seems this has turned out to be an isolated incident. Circuit City is a big business, and they know that it doesn't pay to try and stick it to the MPAA. But still, one bad apple...

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