Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Sorry. I don't believe the current legality of "personally" breaking DRM in the US is that cut and dried. I know many people want it to be, but I don't think it is.
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All of the court cases were either about someone who created a DRM removal device or someone who used a DRM removal device and then distributed the resulting copyrighted material. The first type of case doesn't apply, but based on judges, rights holders, and even prosecutors (some of these cases were criminal/willful infringement) in the second type of case, there isn't anything about "fair use" that doesn't apply to personally breaking DRM, even when doing so to commit infringement afterward.
The judges have basically said that the two acts (breaking the DRM and the later distribution) are separate, and thus the DRM breaking has to be looked at on its own, which is still personal use at the point the DRM was broken. So, even in these slam-dunk infringement cases, nobody has been found guilty of breaking DRM because it's still protected by fair use, at that point.
The "anti-circumvention" part of US copyright law (17 USC 1201) spells it out: "Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title." That pretty much says it all...if removing DRM merely allows you to exercise "fair use", then it's not infringement. It's never been specifically tested in court any more than the hundreds of thousands of other obvious "fair use" events that never get to court, for the same reason...personal use (i.e., no distribution) is never infringement.
Last, there's another bit in copyright law that says the copyright holder cannot increase their rights under copyright law in any way (and it's even illegal to falsely claim rights under copyright that aren't really there). They can sign contracts with other parties that allow them recourse in the form of a lawsuit for breaking the contract, but even if the "shrink wrap" contracts that we supposedly "sign" when we download a DRM-laden ebook are enforceable, you're still not guilty of copyright infringement...only a violation of a contract.