Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Connecticut

Re: Is it against the law to copy tapes and LPs onto CDs for other people?

Copyright law has been undergoing a lot of change recently, and is being "reinterpreted" by a number of courts. The doctrine of final sale would indicate that the owner of a copy of a work has the right to use, sell, or modify that form for his own purposes, and it still exists, as long as the copyright holder's rights are not infringed. If the owners of the work have paid for the copy, and wish to transfer it onto another form, it would fall under this doctrine and would be legal, in my opinion. However, there is a question of derivative use and those rights are held by the copyright owner. If the change of form is so dramatic as to change the actual work (via technical augmentation, conversion to stereo, for instance, or enhancement for artistic or other reasons, then there may be a problem here. I would be willing to discuss this in more detail, as I believe you are providing a service, if set up properly, that can recover and save many recordings from falling into obscurity. We all own software we can't run anymore (beta tapes, 8 track, lp's 45 rpm's etc.)

Your business meets a public need and should be legal. It would be absurd to enforce copyright restrictions vs. consumers for this type of transfer. Good luck.