1. Week 3: File sharing

2. Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The SONY Betamax
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Renaissance England: We kill newspapers dead
We license newspapers selectively, creating government approved monopolies
We tax them heavily
Hell, let’s just ban the damn things (Charles I, 1630s)
We make it easy to prosecute for libel
Charles “you’re not a reporter, are you?” the First, posing for a rare photo opportunity

4. The Licensing Act, 1662
All copy, all printed matter distributed to the public, had to be entered into the publishing guild’s “Stationers Register”
Approved by the Guild and the Government
“A public mercury should never have my vote, because I think it makes the Multitude Too Familiar with the Actions and Counsels of their Superiors.” – Sir Roger L’Estrange

5. Statute of Anne, 1710
By act of Parliament, publishers and authors have 14 years legal ownership of their works, renewable by 14 years
Stealing “other men’s copies” like “lying with their wives.” Daniel Defoe

6. Copyright, a careful balance
We give authors a limited monopoly on their works in order to create incentives for them to produce
Then we end the monopoly so that the work becomes part of our public culture

7. John Peter Zenger case redefines libel
1732: New York newspaper printer accused of libel
Jury: truth is a defense
Opposite of British policy

8. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution (1791)
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

9. Copyright United States: “To promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts, by Securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respctive Writings and Discoveries.”
Copyright Act of 1790: 14 years renewable by 14
1831: 28 years, renewable by 14
1834: Wheaton vs. Peters
1909: Copyright Act of 1909 – 28/28
1976: life of the author plus 50 years (for works after 1978)
1998: (Sonny Bono act) life of the author plus 70 years

10. What does copyright mean you can do?
The exclusive right to
Reproduce the work in copies
Prepare derivative works
Sell copies
Perform the work (publicly)
Display the work (publicly)
Stream the work (digitally)

11. Fair use
You can extract, quote from, and partially reproduce copyrighted materials
“for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use) . . .
How do we know it’s legit?
The purpose of the use (commercial or non-profit?)
The nature of the work
The amount and portion of the work uses
The effect of the use upon the potential market

13. Section 512(c)(3): An online content provider is not infringing if
Does not have “requisite level of knowledge that material is infringing”
Provider doesn’t receive financial benefit directly attributable to the activity
Upon receiving notification, provider loses the content
Section 1201: prohibits “circumvention” devices (think: DVDs) that are
Primarily designed to circumvent
Have only limited functionality besides circumventing
Marketed for circumventing

15. Feist Publications vs. Rural Telephone Service Company, 1991
Who owns copyright on the data on your pay TV onscreen guide?
“The sine qua non of copyright is originality," she noted. "To qualify for copyright protection, a work must be original to the author.” – Sandra Day O’Connor

16. Shawn Fanning and Napster

18. Sony Betamax decision, 1984
“The sale of copying equipment, like the sale of other articles of commerce, does not constitute infringement if the product is widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes. Indeed, it need merely be capable of substantial noninfringing uses.”
Supreme Court

19. RIAA sues 12,000 Americans for copyright infringement
VS. MGM Studios
District Judge goes with Grokster: “Sound policy supports our consistent deference to Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for copyrighted materials.”
Appeals Court goes with Grokster: “The introduction of new technology is always disruptive to new markets . . .”
RIAA sues 12,000 Americans for copyright infringement

20. Grokster vs. MGM
"We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties."
Supreme Court, 1984