Is Plex Legal?

Chris Brass
Writer

Is it legal to copy DVD’s and Bluerays? Yes but with an “If” You have the legal right to make backup copies of your DVD’s and Bluray movies, but you don’t have the right to distribute or sell them, also it’s illegal to break encryption on media that contains a copyright.  Simply put, we have two laws that conflict with each other.  It’s okay for me to make backup copies but it’s illegal to break the encryption the prevents me from making copies. As long as I don’t sell or give away copies of my DVD’s or Bluray movies there shouldn’t be any problems.  The purpose of having a Plex Media Server is multi-tiered, and protecting the original disc you purchased is right there at the top of the list, because as much as Disney loves to have you buy 101 copies of 101 Dalmatians to replace the 100 discs with all the scratches on it, I’m sure you could think of better things to do with your money.

Plex organizes your own media like Music, Movies and pictures into a Netflix style interface. Seen here is Plex for Apple TV.

My Plex server has over 400 movies on it, but if you look in my closet you’ll find over 400 DVD’s or Bluray movies that match the titles in my Plex Server.  It’s a good policy to have, especially when you write articles telling individuals how to make copies of material to put on their Plex Server, and one that I always recommend that everyone should follow, also if you decide that you need to alter and change your system to better suit you, you have the original material sitting in a box on a shelf in the basement waiting for you to pull it out and re-rip it so that you can put in the Spanish audio track for your new Father-in-law who’s not too happy with you getting married to his little girl.  Because making a good impression is always a positive when dealing with in-laws.

If you don’t have a hard copy of a movie, you shouldn’t have a copy in your Plex Server.  If you do, you have clearly violated the law.

’nuff said…