Gateway Stands Up For Fair Use With "RipBurnRespect" Campaign

by , 2:00 PM EST, March 31st, 2003

When we first decided to write this article, our intent was to show that Gateway had usurped Apple's old "Rip. Mix. Burn." campaign to promote its PCs. Gateway has launched a new campaign called "RipBurnRespect" that includes a dedicated Web site. While the similarities to Apple's slogan are certainly obvious, the campaign itself is about promoting and supporting Fair Use rights.

RipBurnRespect offers a no-nonsense look at the issues surrounding online piracy, digital rights (as opposed to the misnomer of "Digital Rights Management", or DRM), and includes an outright declaration of what Gateway "believes in." From the RipBurnRespect Web site:

Gateway believes:

You should have the right to make copies for your own use of any CD you've purchased legally -- so you can listen to it in different locations and have a backup if something happens to your original copy.

You should have the right to enjoy legally acquired music in any format you want – like converting CD tracks to MP3 files to take with you on a portable or car MP3 player.

You should have the right to download music from the Internet that you've paid for or that's been made available for download by the artist or record label, and to burn CDs from these downloads for your own use.

The site also includes a section talking about artists, "Respecting the fan," a plain-language explanation of what Fair Use is, and more information for helping (Gateway's) consumers get started with digital music. You can get more information on the RipBurnRespect campaign at its Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

To get this out of the way: Gateway is blatantly ripping off Apple, years after the company ran its "Rip. Mix. Burn." campaign to promote the idea of ripping your legally owned CDs to make your own mix CDs. That, in and of itself, is just one more example of this particular company boldly going where Apple has already gone.

With that out of the way, we are delighted to see Gateway taking a proactive stance on Fair Use. It's in the best interest of hardware companies such as Apple and Gateway to make Fair Use an issue, and to protect Fair Use rights, as the ability to make your own CDs certainly helps sell hardware. The cynical among us, including the RIAA itself, will say that it is piracy that is helping to sell that hardware, but that's part of why we respect what Gateway's message is with RipBurnRespect. The company is including education on some of the issues and responsibilities that go along with Fair Use along with their marketing message. That's a pretty responsible approach.

We'll be very interested to see what the RIAA makes of the campaign, if anything. Look for PR-speak to ooze forth from the organization that attacks hardware companies for seeking to boost profits by promoting piracy.

RipBurnRespect