Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I think we have a confusion of terminology here. When you say:
what do you mean by the word "rights"? I interpreted you to mean "capabilities", but you're saying that you don't mean that? What did you mean?
What is your opinion on the "RealNetworks" case. That was a clear case of a court ruling that it is illegal to remove DRM to enable what would otherwise be "fair use" rights, such as format conversion.
|
When googling around for the US Code, I found the site below which discusses whether that RealNetworks case might be reconsidered in light of the newer decision. One has to realize that different Circuit Courts can go their merry way until the US Sup makes an overriding decision:
http://arstechnica.com/software/news...e-is-legal.ars
A lot of this remains an intellectual exercise until something definitive is handled down. And sometimes one side or the other may decide it remains in their interest to keep things ambiguous if the risk is the Sup Ct might rule against them. Many a state has allowed a lower court decision to stand unappealed since there is no precedent value of lower ct decisions. They can keep enforcing a questionable law at lower levels rather than risk the outright overturning.