321 Studios To Sue Over DMCA Exemptions
from the fight-for-our-fair-use-rights dept
Yesterday there was a ton of coverage about the Copyright Office’s decision on DMCA exemptions. Lots of people were disappointed in what was left out, but resigned themselves to the fact that they had lost. Not 321 Studios, makers of DVD backup software (who is currently fighting a court battle with the MPAA). They’ve decided to go to court to appeal the ruling of the Library of Congress which says that copying your own DVD for backup purposes is not exempted from the DMCA. 321 Studios says that this is a perfectly legitimate fair use of DVDs. Their (very reasonable) argument is that DVD content is the equivalent of software – which is allowed a fair use backup copy. I’m not sure what the legal process is for suing the Librarian of Congress over the DMCA exemptions they made (lawyers, want to chime in?), but this should be interesting to watch.
Comments on “321 Studios To Sue Over DMCA Exemptions”
law
In Florida where I practice, I’m pretty sure the state has to give you permission to let you sue it. I don’t know if the federal government operates the same way.
Re: law
Chisholm v. Georgia.
DMA conflict
If, under the DMA, we have the right to have/make a copy of a particular digital media we purchased (for personal/backup use), but we just can’t hack any copy protection to make such a copy, wouldn’t it then be the media owner’s responsibility to provide us the copy that we have the legal right to own at no/lower cost? Otherwise, how can we excercise our right to legally own a copy of the media without having to purchase another full-price product? Think about it, why did the copyright office ever create the “right” to make a backup/personal copy in the first place, if the obvious solution of just purchasing another full-price copy would suffice? I think the spirit of this particular aspect of the copyright law was to allow us to make copies for personal/backup use WITHOUT having to purchase another product. So, how are we legally able to obtain a rightful copy of a digital media we already own without having to purchase it again?