Digital Music Messing Up The Nature Of Copyright Law

from the no-surprises-here dept

The content in this article shouldn't surprise most people who read Techdirt, but it's still good to see a somewhat mainstream publication (PC World) look at the issues of copyright in a digital world and realize that it's not black and white, but that there are a hundred shades of gray to deal with. The current laws are clearly obsolete and new laws have yet to be written. So, in the meantime, everyone is trying to fit old laws onto new technologies, and it's become quite a mess. The article suggests that if you're accused of copyright infringement for downloading music you have a good chance to win if you fight it. I'm not sure I believe that. The other point they make, though, is that right now it's just so costly to fight that whoever has the bigger pockets is likely to win, just by outlasting the other side (and it's the industry that has the deep pockets). What's more interesting, though, is to see if the legal battles will end up reshaping copyright law.

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