Legal Question in Technology Law in Indiana

Re: What is the copyright definition of backup equipment?

This is a belated reply because you have not received an answer from anyone else. I suppose that is because it does not appear likely to generate legal fees to an attorney to make the response.

The "backup clause" of which you speak is Section 117 of the Copyright Act. The statute does not use the word "backup" but rather the term "archival copy". It does NOT permit the backup to be on a hard drive of a second computer, so your proposed backup on a second computer used by another person is a clear cut case of copyright infringement. Indeed, it is deliberate copyright infringement with penalties of $500 to $150,000 should you be sued by a copyright lawyer such as me.

There is a layman's explanation of this at the following http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-digital.html