Dr. Bagby did a whirlwind overview of the concepts of copyright, P2P, and intellectual property … here is my reaction to what I heard, with some links to some extras. I really enjoyed it and want you to realize that this is complex stuff and that it is so tied to the future of innovation — as much as anything else we’ve talked about.
Urban Legends
The most interesting in my mind of the myths Dr. Bagby spoke of was … “Things posted on the Internet are free and free to use” … Where did that myth come from? Interesting topic … Dr. Bagby claims that the net-newbies felt as though the “net should not be regulated.” He went on the say that this is just not true and that the courts will ultimately decide. Because of this attitude, things have moved so far to the other side and that the copyright office and the court insists on DRM … throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as he was saying. I’d be really interested to know what you guys think about the “free” nature of the Internet … are things posted on the web open as fair game? You all “borrow” images to use in your iMovies … is that cool, legal, or should it be regulated? Clearly, Dr. Bagby even highlighted the fact that ALL photos are protected … so think twice. The other two myths are interesting, but the first was one is the one that I think we could spend time thinking about and discussing. The other two are that only materials “marked” with the © symbol and are registered with the Copyright office are protected … the other is that P2P traders will NOT get caught — both myths! BTW, anything produced and published, posted, or simply created are protected under copyright — there are alternate copyright formats emerging.
Tidbits
Software is protected as a Literary work — I did not know that. Sonny Bono — I had no idea he had anything to do with any of this … 100 years! That’s just silly. He looked at Fair Use Factors … you really ought to know this stuff! ANGEL is there to protect us … very interesting … it’s a shell to authenticate users so we can keep people from seeing what’s really in there. Parody and criticism is allowable — I did not know that either. Last thing … Dr. Bagby sent me this via email to post for you all as well … ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY SEEKS GROKSTER SUPREME CT. REVIEW — Major movie studios and record labels have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant cert to hear an appeal of the Grokster decision. In August, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an April 2003 U.S. District Court decision that certain services should not be held liable for the alleged infringements of their users. Read about it (1 & 2) and view the petition.
Some Cases
He went on to talk about the RIAA and some of their litigation … did you know that RIAA chief council was none other that a PSU grad named, Barry K. Robinson. This little read pulls it together for you — BTW, I posted this one before. Anyway, he went on to describe the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 as a response to the fact that all of a sudden, people could really make great home recordings — the DAT (digital audio tape) allowed people to make these things … but, the compromise was a form of copy protection scheme — BTW, Sony still uses some of those types of protections in their Mini Disc players. Fast forward to 1999 to the case of RIAA v Diamond … a digital audio recording device does not have to use this type of copy protection — or limitations. Cool stuff … it means PCs aren’t really covered by the law!
Two years later … Napster shows up. That’s when the shit starts to hit the fan … A&M Records v Napster … this is what established limits on fair use … take a look at what this really means … boil it down, and you have to not be creating competition for the original creator. What does it all mean … client server architecture for sharing is done. Dr. Bagby says that this is what forced innovation — they thought they would stop this, but it created a new way to move stuff, peer to peer (P2P) … man, how do you stop that? I just read something in Business Week that claims copyright is actually stifling innovation … read, decide, and post!
My Conclusion
This stuff is very complex and is not going to get any easier. As you begin to pull your solutions together, use the resources Dr. Bagby has assembled for you and make sure you are paying attention to the details … the details will be the difference in the good solutions and the bad ones. The depth of your research will serve you well across the board in all your courses — and when you get into the real world. Thanks for paying attention and listening. If this stuff interests you, take a couple courses with Dr. Bagby … hell send him a note and let him know you like it.