When the material being ripped is not in the
public domain, and the person making the rip does not have the copyright owner's permission, then such ripping may be regarded as
copyright infringement. However, some countries either explicitly allow it in certain circumstances, or at least do not forbid it. Some countries also have
fair use-type laws which allow unauthorized copies to be made under certain conditions.
Europe A directive of the European Union allows its member nations to instate in their legal framework a
private copy exception to the authors and editors rights. If a member State chooses to do so, it must also introduce a compensation for the copyright holders. Most European countries, except for Norway, have introduced a private copying levy that compensates the owners directly from the country's budget. In 2009, the sum awarded to them was $55 million. In all but a few of these countries (exceptions include the UK and Malta), the levy is imposed on all machines and blank materials capable of copying copyrighted works. Under the directive, making copies for other people is forbidden, and if done for profit, can lead to a jail sentence.
Netherlands In the
Netherlands, citizens are allowed to make copies of their legally bought audio and video. This includes
CD,
SACD, as well as
DVD and
Blu-ray. These copies are called "home copies" and may only be used by the ripper. Public distribution of ripped files is not allowed.
Spain In
Spain, anyone is allowed to make a private copy of a copyrighted material for oneself, providing that the copier has accessed the original material legally.
United Kingdom Private copying of copyrighted material is illegal in the United Kingdom. In 2010, the UK government sought input on modernizing copyright exceptions for the digital age, and commissioned the
Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth. The review asserted that a private copying exception was overdue, citing that users were unaware of what was even legally allowed, and that a copyright law where "millions of citizens are in daily breach of copyright, simply for shifting a piece of music or video from one device to another" was not "fit for the digital age". However, the Review reasoned that no such collections are necessary when implementing a copyright exception for format-shifting: In August 2011, the government broadly accepted the recommendations of the Hargreaves Review. At the end of 2012, the government published "Modernising Copyright", a document outlining specific changes the government intends to make, including the Hargreaves-recommended exception for private, noncommercial copying. Following each milestone in the reform process, press reports circulated that ripping non-DRM-protected CDs and DVDs was no longer illegal. However, the actual legislation to implement the changes is not yet in force; the
Intellectual Property Office had only begun seeking review of draft legislation in June 2013, and the resulting
Statutory Instruments (SIs) were not laid out for Parliamentary approval until March 27, 2014, and were not actually approved until July 14 (Commons) and July 27 (Lords); with an effective date of October 1, 2014. Anticipating approval, the Intellectual Property Office published a guide for consumers to explain the forthcoming changes and to clarify what would remain illegal. The private copying exception may seem to conflict with the existing Copyright Directive prohibition on overriding or removing any DRM or TPM (
technical protection measures) that are sometimes used on optical media to protect the content from ripping.
North America United States U.S. copyright law (
Title 17 of the United States Code) generally says that making a copy of an original work, if conducted without the consent of the copyright owner, is infringement. The law makes no explicit grant or denial of a right to make a "personal use" copy of another's copyrighted content on one's own digital media and devices. For example,
space shifting, by making a copy of a personally owned audio CD for transfer to an MP3 player for that person's personal use, is not explicitly allowed or forbidden. Existing copyright statutes
may apply to specific acts of personal copying, as determined in cases in the civil or criminal court systems, building up a body of
case law. Consumer copyright infringement cases in this area, to date, have only focused on issues related to consumer rights and the applicability of the law to the sharing of ripped files, not to the act of ripping
per se.
Canada The
Copyright Act of Canada generally says that it is legal to make a backup copy of any copyrighted work if the user owns or has a licence to use a copy of the work or subject-matter as long as the user does not circumvent a
technological protection measure or give any of the reproductions away. This means that in most cases, ripping DVDs in Canada is most likely illegal.
Oceania Australia and New Zealand In
Australia and
New Zealand a copy of any legally purchased music may be made by its owner, as long as it is not distributed to others and its use remains personal. In Australia, this was extended in 2006 to also include photographs and films. ==Opinions of ripping==