Campus Copyright

Licensing Conquest of Copyright Fair Use

Edited from Anne Broache, http://news.com.com/House+panel+OKs+digital+licensing+bill/2100-1028_3-6081874.html

Section 115 Reform Act (SIRA) - a digital copyright bill that critics say could imperil home-use copying of music and video recording devices like TiVo. Attempts to overhaul a piece of copyright law that established a complex system of "mechanical royalties" for record companies, recording artists, songwriters and publishers in exchange for the right to reproduce and distribute their music.

SIRA proposes establishing a "blanket licensing" system in which those entities would apply for and receive licenses through a one-stop shop. Established by the Copyright Office, that body would act as a representative for music publishing companies with the greatest share of the market.

A coalition of 19 consumer-oriented advocacy groups and companies--including the American Association of Law Libraries, BellSouth, the Consumer Electronics Association, Public Knowledge, RadioShack, and Sirius and XM satellite radio--claimed the proposal poses a threat to fair use.

Under copyright law, separate licenses exist for the "performance" of a song and for the reproduction or distribution of it. The consumer groups argued that the bill views digital recordings as falling into both categories, which could lead to "potentially duplicative fees" by forcing sellers to pay more than once for the same content. Those fees, some contend, would have to be passed on to consumers.

For the first time, licenses could be required for every cache, buffer and other "incidental" copy of a song. "There is no basis for giving copyright owners added control because of incidental copies that have no independent economic value apart from the performance itself,".

WOW Wars – No Winners

Edited from Anne Broache, of CNET News.com

Unfortunately typical of a suit either for copyright or broader intellectual property issues, the ‘suer’ and ‘suee’ rarely win.  The following case is considered a draw but some issues related to it are winners.

Brian Kopp, 24, filed suit in March against Blizzard Entertainment. The complaint alleged wrongful termination to auction his book "The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide," of which he had sold hundreds of copies since last August at about $15 apiece on Ebay.

Alleging the book violated intellectual-property laws, Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA sent repeated take-down notices, provided for by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), to eBay. The auction giant's general policy is to halt auctions when it receives such notices and to suspend a user's account after it racks up a certain number of warnings.

Kopp routinely filed counter notices protesting the claims, according to his original court complaint. Because the companies never responded to those documents, eBay was free to reinstate Kopp's auctions, which it did. But the video game industry continued to issue take-down notices, the number of which grew high enough that eBay was forced to suspend Kopp's accounts under multiple usernames.

"It's pretty much the equivalent of showing up at your store one morning and finding your goods on the curb with nothing you can do about it," said Greg Beck, an attorney representing Kopp on behalf of advocacy group Public Citizen. "They get so many notices of claimed infringement that they can't investigate all claims."

The parties also threatened copyright and trademark infringement action against Kopp, but he argued the book was in the clear because it presented a disclaimer on its first page about its unauthorized nature, contained no copyrighted text or storylines, and, though it did use selected screen shots downloaded from a site unaffiliated with the video game's makers, those uses were "fair."

The terms of the settlement do not provide for monetary compensation for Kopp, which he had originally sought. Instead, the companies agreed to withdraw their previous take-down notices and to drop their infringement claims. They also said they'd refrain from filing any future take-down notices against the same items Kopp had already disputed through counter notices.

Kopp, for his part, agreed to retain the book's disclaimers about its unofficial nature and said he wouldn't include links or instructions on how to locate "cheats" in the game.

Representatives from the video game industry were not immediately available for comment.

Academic Institutions can make a difference by teaching early about intellectual property and copyright concerns.  The Senate Resolution 488 last week encouraging academic institutions to further promote respect for intellectual property rights is an important first step that can be initiated by academic institutions. Senator Lamar Alexander submitted the resolution on behalf of himself and Senators Orin Hatch, Patrick Leahy, Bill Nelson and Bill Frist.  Many academic institutions are already acquiring licenses to access music sources.  West Chester University is developing a project with streaming audio.  Students can access but not download files of music licensed by the university.

Resolution 488 urges colleges and universities to:

• Educate students about “the detrimental consequences of online infringement of intellectual property rights”
• Adopt policies to deter students from unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing on their institutions’ computer systems.

The resolution was unanimously adopted May 22nd.