COPYCENSE

"One of the puzzling things about sneakwrap licenses is that so many software companies try to keep them secret until after the user purchases the product. A reader recently sent me Company X’s license. Looking it over, I found a number of terms I thought unusually harsh, such as this one:

‘The Agreement and the licenses granted hereunder shall terminate without further notice or action by (Company X) if You become bankrupt or insolvent, make an arrangement with Your creditors or go into liquidation.’

"So if you experience financial difficulties, you lose what was supposed to be a perpetual license. Gee, how fair is that?"

Ed Foster. The Mystery License. The Gripe Line Weblog. Aug. 7, 2004.

"A nonprofit trade group formed by more than a dozen major software makers — including Microsoft and Adobe — the Business Software Alliance is charged with enforcing licensing and copyright protections. Personal contact with the software group usually comes in the form of a ‘software audit,’ in which the BSA, often acting on a tip from an angry current or former employee, combs through a company’s PC stock, matching installed programs with licenses. Companies that come up short can be forced to pay big fines and buy tons of new licenses.

"But BSA executives say the group’s role isn’t to be the tough guy. Instead, they’re around to protect the interests of software makers, through a combination of enforcement action, education and governmental lobbying."

David Becker. Software Piracy: Hype Versus Reality. News.com. Aug. 2, 2004.

"A group of 46 state attorneys general sent a deeply critical letter to file-sharing companies Thursday, asking them to take stronger action on privacy and intellectual-property violations.

"Thursday’s letter asked makers of file-sharing software to take ‘meaningful steps’ to prevent the dissemination of child pornography, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement. The group stopped short of citing specific legal action that states might take against companies but said they could target individuals using file-swapping networks for fraudulent purposes."

Kudos to News.com, which continues to chronicle the entertainment industry’s moves to legislate copyright at the state level, in addition to it’s increased efforts at the federal level.

Back in March, SNTReport.com cited a News.com report that outlined how the entertainment industry was assisting the states in portraying peer-to-peer networking companies as manufacturers of defective or potentially dangerous products. If classified in such a manner, file sharing products would have to bear extensive warning labels, and aggrieved copyright owners may be able to win damages from the products’ manufacturers under state product liability statutes, in addition to any damages available pursuant to federal copyright infringement laws.

Additionally, Borland’s article chronicles a trend amongst law enforcement officials and legislators at both the state and federal levels to portray P2P networks as harbors for adults who trade freely in child pornography. If such activity does occur on P2P networks, it is reprehensible and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

But these allegations have been offered by entertainment industry lobbyists, then spoon-fed to state and federal officials — almost always without the slightest shred of study or independently verifiable evidence. Clearly, the entertainment lobby has a vested interest in such a campaign, and any of their claims that concern copyrighted works always should be held to the strictest scrutiny.

Unfortunately, state and federal officials often fail to investigate such claims before acting.

John Borland. State AGs Warn File-Sharing Companies. News.com. Aug. 5, 2004.

See also:
Declan McCullagh, et al. P2P Faces New Legal Scrutiny from States. News.com. March 15, 2004.