Question Box

● Is it all right to record public talks by the brothers and then sell duplications of such recordings to others?

With the advent of the portable tape recorder in recent years, many brothers are recording the talks they hear at assemblies, at Kingdom Halls and at special meetings. Sometimes these talks are played back to other members of one’s family, or to shut-ins and infirm individuals, or to other persons who were not present to hear the talk originally. Sometimes those making the recordings like to replay the tapes for their own enjoyment.

There seems to be no objection to recording such talks for one’s own pleasure or for the benefit of others who did not hear the talks. But what if one were to reproduce such tapes and then advertise them for sale among the brothers and thus promote a commercial enterprise? Sometimes individuals do this without even asking permission of the one who gave the talk. It is one thing to record a speaker’s talk; it is an entirely different matter to reproduce his talk and sell it to others, with or without permission. To sell such tapes puts the matter in the commercial field and this becomes a disturbing element in the congregations. It would therefore be good to avoid this unethical practice of selling tapes.