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Tech industry wants more fair use rights

5 August 2007 9:19 by Dave "Davedough" Horvath | 7 comments

The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has recently filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the blatant and overused statements regarding copyright infringement. The CCIA states that consumers are constantly assaulted with harsh words that in a sense violate our rights. In a statement, a representative said, "Every time an American consumer opens a book, plays a DVD or watches a wide range of broadcast programs, he or she is confronted by strong language warning of what they are not allowed to do with that product."

The complaint with the FTC states that manufacturers of a lot of the products we use today are part of a stealth campaign to intimidate consumers from exercising their fair use rights with products they have purchased. the CCIA even sites the National Football League and Major League Baseball as two major offenders who have been using this tactic for many years during their television broadcasts. The CCIA contends that many of these statements released in books, DVDs, broadcasts and other forms of entertainment grossly misrepresent the laws contained in the Fair Use Act. "By design or effect, many of these warnings are misleading and harmful to millions of American consumers, customers and businesses," said a representative.

One section of the complaint to the FTC reads, "Uses of copyrighted works unauthorized by the copyright holder are not only permitted by federal law, they are actively encouraged by it. Section 107 of the Copyright Act, for example, encourages the unauthorized use of copyrighted works for various purposes, including criticism, commentary and news reporting. Under some circumstances, fair use permits the reproduction of an entire work by consumers."

Although their cause is noble, the CCIA needs to be careful at what waters they tread through. In a court, it is nearly impossible to tell whether or not something was reproduced to the effect of fair use prior to its reproduction. Additionally, siding with a decision from the US Supreme Court; if the CCIA pushes too hard with their copyright reform, it could be viewed that they inducing copyright infringement themselves and be held liable.

Source:
Technology News

Permalink to this article

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Tech companies file complaint over copyright warnings (1 August 2007)

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georgeluv (Member) 5 August 2007 9:38
kids are getting gunned down in iraq yet our leaders quarrel over file sharing. thats capitalism for you. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 5 August 2007 11:37
*Originally posted by georgeluv:* kids are getting gunned down in iraq yet our leaders quarrel over file sharing. thats capitalism for you. thats fascist capitalism,Normal capitalism sets a few absuletes(no sell copies of games/vids,mod chips fall under fair use and such) and dose not change to meet the whims the corporations and then lets a more free market decided the outcome of things. fascist capitalism stagnates not only innovation but claws away at personal rights and freedoms. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 5 August 2007 11:55
how abotu toss out the DMCA and start over again with a fair use minded version..... [ + quote]
DXR88 (Senior Member) 5 August 2007 17:32
when i pushase somthing its now mine and i now own a license to reverse enginer that product to death. no mater what it is. i can mod hack crash stap with a sharp metal object or whatnot. it mine and theres notin they can do about it but mabey try and stop it by making mindless statment that the'll sue me if i dont obey. Heh-heh-ha-ha who cares about your mindless legle actions. cause i for one don't [ + quote]
Mr-Movies (Member) 6 August 2007 8:52
Fair Use, Politically Correct, No Child Left Behind, and so on are all a misnomer just another way to blow smoke up our backsides and make it sound good supposedly. It has been said power corrupts and it is true we live in a very corrupt society that you see at all levels. I too think if I buy something it is MINE to do with as I please regardless of what the provider�s wishes are. Kids� getting gunned down in Iraq is very bad definitely but that doesn't mean there are not other things that need to be addressed, we have many hurdles to jump unfortunately. [ + quote]
georgeluv (Member) 7 August 2007 6:31
*Originally posted by ZIppyDSM:* how abotu toss out the DMCA and start over again with a fair use minded version..... Believe it or not the dmca is very fair use minded. websites cant be held liable for whats posted on thier sites. Because of this youtube is the number 1 video sharing site in the world and its based in america. because of this rule this very website can allow users to make piracy guides. because of this clause coupled with the freedom of speach it is very much legal for TOSE to publish drug recipes and bomb recipes. mod chips and pirated games are all illegal to SELL, but they are not illegal to simply posses. our leaders actually made a lot of good calls in the dmca, keep in mind this was under the Clinton administration. imagine the digital world we would be living in right now had the dmca been ratified under bushes watch. we probably wouldnt even be having this conversation, this site would have been banned or stripped of all its "good" content years ago. i have a really bad feeling that when the dmca expires the next version will be very anti-consumer and will end the golden age of file sharing we are experiencing now. our government has pushed the will of the people behind the will of whoever gives them the best "informative vacation". [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 12 August 2007 0:15
this whole article is just telling me one thing. This saying to me that the whole copyright legislation needs to be re-written :) [ + quote]