Best law money can buy -- djf INDUCE bill to overturn Betamax decision?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei () rsasecurity com>
Date: June 18, 2004 4:28:34 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: INDUCE bill to overturn Betamax decision?

For IP, if you wish.

The Betamax decision, back in 1984, is what allows you to
legally use VCRs and PVRs to timeshift TV shows. The
arguement was that VCRs, while they *could* be used
to infringe copyright, and undoubtedly *were* being used
to some extent to infringe, VCRs also had 'substantial
non-infringing uses' which made them legal.

Orrin Hatch is now introducing legislation to change this;
if a technology is known to be used to infringe copyright,
then it is illegal to supply it to anyone, regardless of any
legal uses the technology may have.

From the CNET article:

  "The proposal, called the Induce Act, says
  "whoever intentionally induces any violation"
  of copyright law would be legally liable for
  those violations, a prohibition that would
  effectively ban file-swapping networks like
  Kazaa and Morpheus. In the draft bill seen
  by CNET News.com, inducement is defined as
  "aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures"
  and can be punished with civil fines and, in
  some circumstances, lengthy prison terms."

Frankly, I'm not sure if a #2 pencil could
be sold under this doctrine - since it is known
that pencils are sometimes used to copy
protected works.

Hatch is using the 'but it's for the children'
ploy to defend his attack on the first
amendment. The INDUCE Act stands for
Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child
Exploitation Act.

Links
CNET article:
http://news.com.com/Antipiracy+bill+targets+technology/2100-1028_3 
-5238140.html

Slashdot article with plethora of links:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/18/ 
1449217&mode=thread&tid=103&tid=123&tid=153&tid=99

Just my opinions....

Peter Trei




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