In The News

["Olga Francois" <ofrancois@xxxxxxxx>]

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Efforts to stop music piracy 'pointless'
BBCNews.com, 22 November, 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2502399.stm

"History will defeat attempts to stop CD piracy Record industry attempts
to stop the swapping of pop music on online networks such as Kazaa will
never work."
*
Report :
The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution
BY Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, and Bryan Willman,
Microsoft Corporation
http://crypto.stanford.edu/DRM2002/darknet5.doc
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>From Tech Law Journal: http://www.techlawjournal.com/welcome.htm
EU Releases Report on US Barriers to Trade
11/21. The European Commission released a report [PDF] titled "Report on
United States Barriers to Trade and Investment". The report states that
the U.S. imposes barriers to trade that disadvantage EU companies in a
wide range of areas

"Copyright: Moral Rights. The report identifies several barriers to
trade based in U.S. copyright law. First, it complains about the U.S.
failure to protect the moral rights of authors. The report states that
"Despite the unequivocal obligation contained in Article 6bis of the
Berne Convention, to which the US acceded in 1989, to make ``moral
rights44 available for authors, the US has never introduced such rights
and has repeatedly announced that it has no intention to do so in the
future. It is clear that while US authors benefit fully from moral
rights in the EU, the converse is not true, which leads to an imbalance
of benefits from Berne Convention membership to the detriment of the
European side. It is noted that the US has ratified and implemented the
World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) Copyright Treaty and the
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. Adherence to these Treaties by
the US requires legislation on moral rights at least for performers."

"Copyright: Homestyle Exemption. Second, the report complains about 17
U.S.C. ' 110(5), which provides for a homestyle exemption to an author's
exclusive rights -- that is, playing of homestyle radios and TVs in
bars, stores and restaurants without payment of royalties. The report
states that this "practice has caused a serious deprivation of income to
EU right-holders, as a large number of commercial establishments do not
pay any royalty fees. Moreover, the incomplete copyright protection in
the US has broader economic effects negatively affecting the overall
position of authors on the US market."
*
Report:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/mk_access/ustbr2002.pdf
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The Making of a Policy Gadfly
By ANDREA L. FOSTER, Chronicle.com, November 29, 2002
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i14/14a02701.htm 

"Seeing crucial computer-science work threatened, a Princeton professor
takes on Congress"