Is selling burned CDs legal?

Answer

It depends. There are many variables that could dictate the answer. There is no "one correct" answer.

• If the material in question provides a royalty-free, public use and public redistribution license, then it may be repackaged, given away or sold as long as it does not violate any explicit restrictions provided. In most cases, if you unsure, contact the content author/owner for clarification. This is often most helpful should legal issues arise later.

• Most sound recordings are not available under a royalty-free, public use and distribution license, and their copyrights won't expire until 2067, so any copying of those recordings would technically infringe the copyrights. Selling them would be a federal crime (or perhaps state crime, depending upon how old the recordings are), with fines. Marking them with the names of albums or artists could also be a trademark or publicity rights infringement. Any profits you earn would be taken away, plus penalties, costs and attorneys' fees.

First answer by DaddyO 9. Last edit by Wutzyerproblem. Contributor trust: 360 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 86 [recommend question]

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