FITUG e.V.

Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

Uses of DVDs, hearings on the DMCA, etc.

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 13:33:17 -0500 Send reply to: Law & Policy of Computer Communications <CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM> From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@SAMSARA.LAW.CWRU.EDU> Subject: Uses of DVDs, hearings on the DMCA, etc. To: CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

After all the initial excitement, we seem almost to have forgotten about the suits to enjoin the writing and publication of the DeCSS and related programs that permit the contents of DVD drives to be ``unscrambled.''

And no one seems to have reported here, or on the other lists that I frequent, on the responses to the Copyright Office's request for comments on possible exceptions to the provisions of the DMCA that criminalize circumventing technological access provisions so that one can read (or view or listen to) copyrighted works. The 235 comments that were submitted are available at <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/>, all in PDF format.

One of the more interesting features of the comments is that around 80% of them confine themselves to discussion of the DVD/DeCSS problem. And most of those comments refer to the fact that DeCSS allows users of Linux boxes to access their DVD drives. And some also mention that this allows Linux users to access DVD disks that are encoded so that they can only be accessed by machines in certain regions of the globe. As I recall, however, none of the comments mention the fact that DeCSS can also be used by MSWindows users to circumvent those regional restrictions.

I think that last point is important, at least with respect to the New York litigation, because it shows that there is a legitimate reason why Windows users would want to use DeCSS that has nothing to do with copying copyrighted materials.

A few of the comments to the copyright office speak of the anti-competitive affects of the DVD scambling system, but no one seems to argue that that scheme is actually an anti-trust violation. But cannot one argue that a scheme where a cartel divides the world into various regions and whose members sell their goods so that they will only work initially in one of the regions, and then after a few years release versions that will work in some of the other regions, and so on, is actually an anti-trust trust violation? I am not up on the antitrust laws as they apply to limiting sales to specific geographical markets, but at one time, at least, I am pretty sure that that would have been a per se violation under U.S. antitrust law. And what about the European Union? I shouldn't think that they would be very happy with a situation where the DVD players available to them cannot be used to play new films that are released in the United States.

In any case, with the exception of the comments of Time/Warner <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/043.pdf>, Sony <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/190.pdf>, and the Motion Picture Association of America <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/209.pdf>, which all took the position that there should be no exceptions to the anti-circumvention provisions, all the comments supported some exceptions, and many suggested that all classes of materials and all uses should be exempt.

Reply comments are due by March 20. I would suggest that any of you with any interest in this area read at the least the Time/Warner, Sony, and MPAA comments. I suspect that you will be inspired to file a reply.

My own comments appear, by the way, at <http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/1201/comments/203.pdf>.

-- Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH EMAIL: junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu NOTE: junger@pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu no longer exists ------- End of forwarded message -------

Zurück