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Refresher
- The DMCA changed copyright dramatically
- Only the Eldred case has tested the DMCA in the Supreme
Court. At least one other case (MPAA v. 2600) was tested
in federal court. Most of the components of the DMCA have
not (yet) been seriously challenged in the federal courts.
- Further legislation, especially PATRIOT, has served to
stiffen the penalties for copyright violation and enhance
monitoring and other law enforcement activities.
Contemporary Events
- The 3-year schedule of anti-circumvention exemptions
is happening right now at the LoC. See http://www.copyright.gov/1201/. The text of 1201
is online at
Cornell, as well as other places
- The recently enacted TEACH legislation
provides exemptions and clarification on fair use of copyrighted
materials for (distance) education
Even more Contemporary
- Today, March 31, the FCC is holding a hearing at Duke
Law. See the agenda. The theme is whether further consolidation
of media ownership (as started by the Telecommunications Act of 1996) should be allowed.
- gbn's comments, submitted via the FCC's comment filing system:
Community- and locally-owned media are the lifeblood of
social, political, entertainment and political lives of communities
of all sizes. Increased consolidation of media ownership has
already served to homogenize communities, at the expense of locally
pertinent news and views. It's critical to encourage the
development of locally owned and locally operated media outlets, and
to resist commerce-based desires of conglomerates to expand. The
role of the media in our modern democracy cannot be overemphasized,
and allowing media owners to own more would be perilous for the
media's role to foster critical and aware viewpoints. Please do not
enable further consolidation of media ownership.
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