Is downloading AVI formated movies still not illegal? I havent checked in a long time(back before the MPAA went 3rd Reich). Last time I read that it was not. Now I get confliting stuff all over the place. No its not, yes it is.. blah blah blah. Can anyone here give me a straight answer(that they know for sure is fact!)?
Nothing illegal about the avi format. Most avi's that you download use XviD for video though which is MPEG-4 and therefor you would have to check with the MPEG-LA for licensing terms for distribution. From recollection you can distribute a certain number of copies before you have to pay fees. Now, downloading of copyrighted material without the owners concent whether it be avi, or anything else constitutes copyright infringment and has never been legal, at least not in the time that avi has been around. Laws and what is covered by copyright vary around the world though. For instance the MPEG-LA members pattents on MPEG-4 I don't not think are valid worldwide.
