Legal Question in Technology Law in Texas

It is important to keep straight the "rights" in copyright. You did not pay for the right to watch the movie, because you don't need the copyright owner's permission to watch it. Consider this: It may be illegal to steal a DVD, and it may be illegal to make a copy of the VHS tape, but it is not illegal to watch a stolen illegal copy of a movie.

The copyright has never covered watching the movie. But it does give the copyright owner the exclusive right to make (or authorize others to make) the copies.

In the case of the VHS tape copy of the movie, you were not given the right to make a copy. In the case of the DVD that included the "free digital download" (or the so-called "digital copy"), the copyright holder is authorizing you the right to make the copy.

In either case, it is up to the copyright owner to authorize, or not, the reproduction of the work. Consider a simpler case -- a copyrighted poem on one page. The copyright owner can just sell you the page with the poem on it, in which case you were not given the right to make a copy. Or, the copyright owner can sell you the copy AND license you the right to make a copy of it, or perform the work (recite the poem) publicly. Third, the copyright owner can choose not to sell you the page with the poem, but allow you to make your own copy. But in no case is it infringing to read the poem.

Some publishers of movie DVDs offer digital copies, but that is their choice. The law does not require them to do so. Their choice does not mean they must offer digital copies of every movie they sell, nor does it require other publishers to do the same thing. It certainly does not require them to retroactively offer digital copies of the movies they sold years ago in other formats.

The right to own something does not include the right to better versions of it when they become available. And while you're right that your tape won't last forever, you did not purchase the right to have the movie in perpetuity. You purchased that particular copy.

(The publisher probably won't care if you make a single copy of your tape to guard against the loss of the one you paid for, as long as the copy is for your own use and is made from the tape you already own. That would be true whether the copy is digital or analog. But you seem to want a new, up-to-date digital copy rather than a home-made copy of an aging tape.)

Your rights to watch the movie are limited. If it is re-released in theaters, you would not be entitled to demand free admission on the ground that you own a copy on VHS. You likewise cannot demand free access if the movie is shown on pay-per-view. You are also not entitled to a free DVD or Blu-Ray. The same is true of digital copies.

When a publisher gives you a digital copy of something it is giving you permission to have that copy. When it doesn't give you a digital copy it is withholding that permission. That some publishers give permission to make digital copies of some movies does not mean the law requires all publishers to allow it for all movies.

You obviously agree that a digital copy of the movie has value which the VHS copy does not. If you want that added value, you have to pay for it. You are not entitled to demand more now just because you paid for less years ago.