Sony’s War on Makers, Hackers, and Innovators

[JamaicameCRAZY]

 

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

2

 

 

 

"“Copying” is used in this context as a short-hand for the exercise of any of the exclusive

rights of an author under section 106 of the Copyright Act. Consequently, a technological

measure that prevents unauthorized distribution or public performance of a work would fall

in this second category.

 

Copyright Office Summary December 1998 Page 4

unauthorized

 

copying2

of a copyrighted work. Making or selling devices or services that

are used to circumvent either category of technological measure is prohibited in certain

circumstances, described below. As to the act of circumvention in itself, the provision

prohibits circumventing the first category of technological measures, but not the

second.

This distinction was employed to assure that the public will have the continued

ability to make fair use of copyrighted works. Since copying of a work may be a fair use

under appropriate circumstances, section 1201 does not prohibit the act of circumventing

a technological measure that prevents copying. By contrast, since the fair use

doctrine is not a defense to the act of gaining unauthorized access to a work, the act of

circumventing a technological measure in order to gain access is prohibited"