[KLUG Advocacy] Russian Software Firm Found Innocent of Copyright Infringment

[Robert G. Brown]

John Bridleman <john@bridleman.org> wrote:
>* rels (rels@infi.net) wrote:
...
>>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021217/ap_on_hi_te/russian_programmer_3
>>>>"Under the eBook formats, you have
>>>>no rights at all, and the jury had
>>>>trouble with that concept,"
>>>>said Strader, the jury foreman.
>As they should. The news.com story:
>http://rss.com.com/2100-1023-978176.html?type=pt&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news
>"...the jury thought the program "was illegal but acquitted the company
>because they believed the company didn't mean to violate the law."
Both of these are interesting quotes, and indicative of much of which is
wrong with the DMCA. THe notion of being stripped on rights, especially
fair use rights, and the presumption of intent are very onerous aspects
of this law.

>This is a far cry from wiping out the DMCA.
There's nothing wrong, in principle, with the notion of having a law that 
protects copyright holders, and facilitates the maintenance of those rights.
However, the devil is in the details. Clearly, the consesus of contributors
to this thread has been that the DMCA has gone way too far in the direction
of providing agressive, unjustly presumptive and restrictive tools.

>But every little victory helps. 
Yes, and this is a question of momentum and psychology. If Elcommsoft had
been found guilty, you can bet that other complaints would be filed in
short order, because to some degree the Elcommsoft case would be a sort
of map to what plaintiff/prosecutors could do to press their cases. At the
moment, the outcome must give them pause, especially so in that the jury 
(as indicated by the above quotes) recognizes some of the more philosophical
aspects of the the case. Just as a convicton would have a chilling effect
among developers and prospective "fair users", this acquittal will probably
have a chilling effect among those who would use the DMCA as the basis for
legal action.

							Regards,
							---> RGB <---