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Subject: [Leh-letter] LEH Letter - Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce
News


FROM THE OFFICES OF LESLEY ELLEN HARRIS
Copyright, New Media Law & E-Commerce News
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Vol. 7, No. 3, September 9, 2003
ISSN 1489-954X

Contents:
	
1.      Studies, Legislation and Conventions:
UCITA Abandoned
Australian Digital Copyright Review
New WIPO Study on Digital Copyright
U.S. Bill Gets Tough on Online File Sharing

2.      Legal Cases:
German Court Affirms Legality of Deep Linking
U.S. Court Says Movie Trailers Protected by Copyright

3.      Of Interest:
Libraries Must Comply with CIPA by July 2004

4.      Seminars:
                Digital Licensing Online


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__________________________________________________________________

Copyright, New Media & E-Commerce News is distributed for free by the
office 
of Lesley Ellen Harris. Information contained herein should not be
relied upon or considered as legal advice. Copyright 2003 Lesley Ellen
Harris. This 
newsletter may be forwarded, downloaded or reproduced in whole in any
print or electronic format for non-commercial purposes provided that its
author is 
acknowledged and that you cc: [log in to unmask]

This newsletter is archived with the National Library of Canada at:
http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/202/300/copyright-a/index.html

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

1.      STUDIES, LEGISLATION AND CONVENTIONS:

UCITA ABANDONED - Efforts to enact a nation-wide UCITA (Uniform Computer

Information Transactions Act) have been abandoned.  The President of the

National Conference of Uniform State Laws announced in an August 1, 2003

letter to its' members that it will abandon its' efforts to lobby state 
legislatures to enact UCITA.  UCITA proposes "default rules" for various

contracts from software licenses to agreements for online access to
databases, images and games.  Since 1999, UCITA has only been passed in
two states, Maryland and Virginia. Librarians and others have fought
strongly against UCITA.

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL COPYRIGHT REVIEW - In consultation with the
Australian 
Attorney-General's Department, issue papers have been prepared by the
law firm Phillips Fox to discuss the Australian Government's Digital
Agenda copyright reforms.  The issue papers deal with: Libraries,
Archives and Educational Copying; Carrier and Carriage Service
Providers; Technology and Rights; and Circumvention Devices and
Services, Technological Protection Measures and Rights Management
Information. See the issues papers at:  
www.phillipsfox.com/whats_on/Australia/DigitalAgenda/DigitalAgenda.asp

NEW WIPO STUDY ON DIGITAL COPYRIGHT - The World Intellectual Property 
Organization (WIPO) has released a study entitled, "WIPO Study on
Limitations and Exceptions of Copyright and Related Rights in the
Digital Environment." The study, prepared by Sam Ricketson, Professor of
Law at the University of Melbourne, examines the limitations of digital
copyright protection in conventions such as the Berne Convention and the
WIPO Copyright Treaty. The study is available at 
http://www.wipo.int/documents/en/meetings/2003/sccr/pdf/sccr_9_7.pdf

U.S. BILL GETS TOUGH ON ONLINE FILE SHARING - A Bill proposed in
Congress by 
two Democrats would introduce harsh new penalties for online file
sharing. The Author, Consumer and Computer Owner Protection and Security
Act of 2003 
envisions jail time of up to 5 years and fines of up to $250,000 US for 
uploading a single file to a peer-to-peer network. The Bill would also 
increase the budget of the justice department to investigate copyright
crimes from $10 million to $15 million dollars a year.

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2.      LEGAL CASES:

GERMAN COURT AFFIRMS LEGALITY OF DEEP LINKING - The German Federal Court

recently held that a news service which provides direct links to online
news 
articles did not violate copyright. The court said that the general
interest 
in the smooth operation of the Web should take priority over publishers'

rights, and that, without deep linking, meaningful use of the Internet
would 
not be possible. 

U.S. COURT SAYS MOVIE TRAILERS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT - A U.S. federal
court 
judge in New Jersey has ruled that movie trailers are an art form in 
themselves, and cannot be streamed on the Internet without permission of
the 
copyright holder. In the case, Video Pipeline v. Buena Vista Home 
Entertainment, the judge noted that, despite the ruling that trailers
are 
protected by copyright, there was nothing to prevent another company
making 
their own version of a trailer.

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3.      OF INTEREST:

LIBRARIES MUST COMPLY WITH CIPA BY JULY 2004 - The U.S. Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has set a deadline of July 1, 2004 for
compliance with the filtering provisions of the Children's Internet
Protection Act (CIPA). Under CIPA, libraries must install filtering
software or be ineligible for e-rate discounts for Internet access or
internal communications. The FCC decided to extend the compliance
deadline following the ultimately unsuccessful legal challenge to CIPA
mounted by organizations including the American Library Association and
the American Civil Liberties Union.

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4.      SEMINARS:

Digital Licensing Online will be offered for a second time beginning
September 22, 2003.  Full information on this online 9 week course on
digital licensing is at:  http://www.acteva.com/go/copyright or email:  
[log in to unmask]

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This newsletter is prepared by Lesley Ellen Harris, a Copyright and New
Media Lawyer and Consultant. Lesley is the author of the books Digital
Licensing (ALA Editions), Canadian Copyright Law (McGrawHill) and
Digital Property: Currency of the 21st Century (McGrawHill).  Lesley may
be reached at [log in to unmask] and at http://copyrightlaws.com.
________________________________________________________________________
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This LEH-Letter issue was prepared with the help of Beth Davies.


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