Dislodging copyright from its constitutional base: when technological barriers of access the DMCA are applied to software

Even before the Internet and the implacable expansion of digital technologies, those wanting to include their products within the safe womb of copyright protection had successfully convinced the US Congress to grant their wish by expanding both the subject matter of copyright and its scope of protec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Internet Law Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 3
Main Author Dixon, Rod
Format Journal Article Trade Publication Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Aspen Publishers, Inc 01.08.2006
Subjects
Access control
Computers
Copyright
Copyright licenses
Criminal liability
Digital Millennium Copyright Act 1998-US
Fair use
Information dissemination
Infringement
Intellectual property
Internet
Interoperability
Laws, regulations and rules
Operating systems
Public access
Reverse engineering
Software
United States > US
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Summary:Even before the Internet and the implacable expansion of digital technologies, those wanting to include their products within the safe womb of copyright protection had successfully convinced the US Congress to grant their wish by expanding both the subject matter of copyright and its scope of protections. The proper scope of copyright protection for software has been distorted by Congress' enactment of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). By authorizing civil and criminal liability against content and software users who attempt to access locked up computer source code, the DMCA represents an increasing patchwork of legislative favoritism that risks dislodging copyright from its constitutional purpose anchored to promoting the "progress of science and useful arts." The Copyright Act codifies a fair use standard in S107. The standard provides courts with a set of factors to aid in consistent application of a doctrine of equity that is not easily susceptible to a rigid contour or restrictive definition.
ISSN:1094-2904