Legal Question in Consumer Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Copy Rights

Unless you have a valid defense to copyright infringement (e.g. fair use, which I do not see here), what your friends want you to do is the exact reason that the law was created and is the reason that the copyright notice is posted on the CD jacket, on the beginning of the DVDs that you rent, etc. I do not see any valid defenses to copyright infringement in your fact pattern.

Re: Copy Rights

You asked about copyright.

To a degree your specific question poses a conundrum in the law. It is without question legal for you to make a copy of a CD for your own use from a CD that you legally own. It is also unquestionably legal for you to make a compilation CD for you to give to a friend (It used to be called a mix-tape). It's a very common and non-infringing practice. It is also perfectly legal for you to loan out your legally purchased CD. There are even clubs, both online and in person, that trade CDs and even DVDs in this manner.

While you cannot make a copy of the full CD to give to your friends, you can loan out your legally purchased copy of a CD. You can also include one or more songs on that CD in a compilation CD. What they do with the CD when the have it in their possession is between them and the keyboard.

Fair use is a nebulous concept and the law cannot have contemplated the spectrum of possible uses for works of authorship.

Regards,

Roger