Can you make a video tape into a DVD?

Would it be illegal to make a digital copy of legally owned audio (or video) tape for someone else? That is that person brings me a tape, I'll make a digital copy and they'll get the files on CD or DVD. I wouldn't keep the files afterwards.

• Answer:

  Your question and the law are too vague to give you a definitive answer. But generally, the answer is: maybe for audio and most likely for video. First, I assume you are talking about making a copy of a copyrighted work in which the person who hired you is not the copyright owner. It is “fair use” to make a copy of a copyrighted work to “format shift” the work so that the media may be played on various machines provided that you do not circumvent any copyright protection scheme in making the copy. However, an argument can be made on both sides whether a third-party can make such a copy. Since you cannot copy digital video without circumventing the copyright scheme (if the media has such a scheme, which most modern media do), then you are breaking the law if you copy the media.