Re: [Patents] GregNews: copyright shutting down 321 studios

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

The sophistry of the aharonian netbot should be to all a clear
indication that it is not trying to discuss, or to untangle issues,
but only attempting to waste your time, force you to unveil arguments
so that counter-argument can be prepared to counter you when you
discuss in a real context that matters.

The aharonian has not produced any useful information on this list for
a long time.  You should refrain from any exchange with this netbot,
since it can only be counter productive, and a waste of your time.

but, as Harmut is doing, it is always useful to check how it is
misleading others, including the Pope of Trinity College.

Bernard


* Hartmut Pilch <phm@a2e.de>, le 16-08-04, a écrit:
> Greg Aharonian's Internet Patnet News Service and this law was deadly to
> 321 Studios, (http://swpat.ffii.org/players/aharonian/) reports about a
> DMCA lawsuit against 321 Studios Inc, a company that was writing software
> for circumventing copy-prevention mechanisms.  Because the DMCA contains
> the word "copyright" in its name, Greg concludes that copyright is a very
> dangerous weapon, more dangerous than patents.
> 
> Anti-circumvention laws apply to patented goods as well.  In fact they may
> even apply when there is no "IP" at all, e.g. when someone burns 18th
> century archives from a library to a copylocked disk. Anti-circumvention
> laws do not define any exclusivity scope, they are an orthogonal issue.
> 
> Greg seems to have been misled by naming.
> 
> This may be noteworthy, since GregNews is widely received and Greg's
> pro-patent anti-copyright texts are often cited and taken seriously by
> scholars such as Prof. William Kingston of Trinity College (a kind of
> IP pope in the UK and Ireland).
> 
> ------------------------------------
> 
>     -  COPYRIGHT LAWS SHUT DOWN SOFTWARE COMPANY
> 
> I confess - I was wrong - intellectual property laws can be use to shut
> down software companies.  The FFII crowd is right.  A small company in
> the US was just forced out of business because of IP laws.  My apology
> to FFII - IP laws can be used to hurt software companies.  So I would
> like to propose that FFII start a campaign to eliminate this form of
> IP that was used to shut down a software company.  This form of IP is
> I guess a real threat.  The form of IP:
> 
>                                 software copyright
> 
> So it is time for me to agree with FFII and encourage you to start an
> effort to eliminate this form of IP that is actually hurting software
> companies (as opposed to the hallunicogenic fantasies of the Munich city
> government), an IP law that is really hurting software companies -
> software copyright.  Cut the crap about bad software patents being the
> only boogie monster in the IP world.
> 
>                                       ====
> 
> 321 Studios Shuts Its Doors 
> By Katie Dean, WIRED Magazine, 04:10 PM Aug. 03, 2004 PT
> 
> 321 Studios, the company that sold DVD-copying software and faced an
> avalanche of lawsuits from the entertainment industry, shut down Monday. 
> The St. Charles, Missouri, company made DVD-X Copy and DVD Copy Plus --
> programs that allowed users to make backup copies of their commercial DVDs.
> Hollywood studios filed several lawsuits to force the company to stop 
> selling
> its products, saying the company was helping pirates. The Missouri company
> had denied any wrongdoing, claiming DVD purchasers had the right to make
> copies for personal use. 
> 
> "They've ceased operations," said Michael Page, an attorney with Keker &
> Van Nest, who represented 321 Studios.  "They couldn't afford to do
> business and fight all the legal fights. They essentially got sued out
> of existence." 
> 
> In February, Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District Federal Court
> for California ruled that 321 Studios' products violated copyright law. 
> The studios argued that 321's software bypassed CSS, the digital locks
> that protect the content. Any mechanism that circumvents these locks is
> a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In response, 321
> countered that its customers have a right to make personal copies.
> Illston sided with the studios. 
> 
> The company appealed the ruling. Page said he had filed a brief in the
> appeal Friday. He said there were seven lawsuits, including some in the
> United Kingdom, against the company at one point.   "It's really
> unfortunate that we can't get one of (the lawsuits) to an appellate
> court and get (the court) to look at the DMCA issues," Page said. 
> 
> The shutdown "doesn't come as a surprise," said Fred von Lohmann, an
> attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The injunctions had
> made it impossible for them to continue to sell any products."
> 
> -- 
> Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-18979927
> Protecting Innovation against Patent Inflation             
> http://swpat.ffii.org/
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