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

[John Bridleman]

* Robert G. Brown (bob@acm.org) wrote:
> 
> John Bridleman <john@bridleman.org> wrote:
> 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.

I think it showed just how confusing the DMCA is. Clearly the jury didn't understand why someone wouldn't be able to make use of something they feel they own. In other words, fair use just makes sense to the "average" person. After all, we've been doing this for years by copying LP's to cassettes.

> >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.

Well, we already had a law, I thought, that protected the rights of copyright holders. The DMCA, IMHO, looks like an attempt to further restrict fair use by some very paranoid companies.

> >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.

Let's hope.
--
John Bridleman / www.bridleman.org