Subject: Good Copyright Article
David Green (david@ninch.org)
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 10:18:42 -0500
Message-Id: <v02130503b0e3d552eef0@[192.100.21.23]> Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 10:18:42 -0500 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: david@ninch.org (David Green) Subject: Good Copyright Article
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
January 15, 1998
"THE GOOD, BAD, UGLY OF COPYRIGHT LAW REWRITES"
by David Loundy,
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin
January 8, 1998, p.5.
<http://www.Loundy.com/CDLB/1998-Copyright.html>
A good, clear, short article about current copyright law, focusing on
why the Boucher-Campbell, "Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act"
(H.R. 3048) is "one of the best pieces of proposed digital technology
legislation" can be found at the web site of the Chicago Daily Law
Bulletin <http://www.Loundy.com/CDLB/1998-Copyright.html>.
David Loundy explains why the Boucher-Campbell Bill is so superior to
other competing bills:
"1. It shows an understanding of the technology;
2. It shows an understanding of the law and how it applies to the
technology; and
3. It attempts to strike a balance between the rights of intellectual
property owners and intellectual property users."
Loundy counterposes what he calls the reasonable and sensible approach
of H.R. 3048 with other legislation, such as the recently enacted "No
Electronic Theft Act" (The NET Act-- H.R. 2265). This, as other pieces
of proposed legislation go overboard in their protection of owners'
rights on the Internet, forsaking the traditional calibration of checks
and balances of existing Copyright Law:
"I have long claimed that the Copyright Act contains some legitimate
holes to be filled when the law is applied to a digital context.
Unfortunately, too much of the resulting legislation is reactionary and
poorly considered. While the Digital Copyright Enhancement Act is a
refreshingly informed and balanced attempt to fill some of these holes,
why is it that Congress always seems to be most excited about mistakes
such as the NET Act?"
I recommend your reading this article. Thanks to Pamela Samuelson and
Peter Jaszi for the citation.
David Green
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