Copyright Office Endorses INDUCE Act
from the criminalize-everything dept
Earlier this week, in looking through the list of speakers at the INDUCE Act Hearings, Ernest Miller noted that the first on the list, Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights for the US Copyright Office, has “never seen an extension of copyright she didn’t like.” Thus, it’s not at all surprising that she’s going to come out strongly in favor of the bill, according to a copy of her statement that News.com got their hands on. In fact, she’s going to stand up there with a straight face and say that the Betamax ruling goes too far and needs to be replaced. Since most supporters of the INDUCE Act have been claiming that it really doesn’t impact the Betamax decision this is the first sign that people are admitting they’re trying to change the Betamax rule. Others who will clearly lay out misleading claims in favor of the INDUCE Act (as they’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks) includes Robert W. Holleyman of the BSA (recently shown to have made misleading statements concerning stats about unauthorized software copying) and Mitch Bainwol of the RIAA, whose letter to the Senate about the Induce Act was easily torn to shreds by Ernest Miller. Standing up for the other side will Gary Shapiro from the Consumer Electronics Association, who is usually a strong advocate of promoting innovation and Kevin McGuiness of NetCoalition who is “alarmed” by the bill and “troubled” by the Copyright Office’s decision to question the Betamax verdict. Should be a fun time. No one’s mind is going to get changed, of course, since we no longer seem to live in a time where changing your mind based on the facts is encouraged, but Senator Hatch has a history of saying the most ridiculous things during these things, so there may be a good quote or two coming out of all of this.
