Re: DMCA hearings and protests

On Wed, May 24, 2000, Dodi Schultz <schultz[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> To suggest that an invasion of a private home by armed officers of
> the law is equivalent to requiring a commercial operation to remove
> text from a Website -- when the *author* claims copyright infringement,
> not when an opponent objects to content -- is, in my opinion, and
> putting it as politely as I can, without merit. This is not a civil
> liberties issue. It is an intellectual property issue.

A private party listed for sale on e-Bay a so-called e-Meter that is used by a certain organization (that has been declared in Germany not to be a church). We have already mentioned this case on this list.

An arm of the organization emailed e-Bay, the online auction site, and demanded the article be withdrawn. AFAIK e-Bay did this, to comply with the DMCA.

I have not been able to determine what copyright or patent infringement was alleged, only that the e-Meter is not for sale by the organization (although it is for sale by other groups). I checked the patent and it has expired; I don't understand how the machine could be copyrighted -- it is a primitive skin galvanometer.

Although my knowledge of the facts here is limited by the apparent immediate compliance under the DMCA by both the auction site and the auctioning party, it does seem to me that it is not an intellectual property issue that is at the heart of it, but rather a civil liberties issue. It may also be, as you term it, a sort of invasion and appropriation of private property -- if the auctioner cannot sell the article, some rights and use of property are being taken away from him.

I also don't believe it makes any difference under the law as to whether it is a commercial operation or not -- the MPAA and RIAA claim damages against non-commercial websites.

-- 
"Eric"  Eric Eldred  Eldritch Press
mailto:Eldred[_at_]EldritchPress.org
http://www.eldritchpress.org/EricEldred.vcf