Re: DMCA hearings and protests

On Sat, May 27, 2000, Dodi Schultz <schultz[_at_]compuserve.com> wrote:
>
> I don't understand your introducing the matter of eBay's offering
> of a device for sale and, according to your report, the offering's
> being withdrawn in response to a request from a group alleging
> some sort of unstated infringement.
>
> Since this was a device -- you describe it as a galvanometer -- it
> clearly never enjoyed copyright protection (you say it had been the
> subject of a patent but that the patent had expired).
>
> Your message is posted in response to my comment on the DMCA, but
> this matter obviously had nothing to do with copyright or with the
> DMCA, and the withdrawal of an electrical device from sale, for
> whatever reason, has nothing to do with the subject of discussion
> here.

An arm of the Church of Scientology demanded that e-Bay take down the auction offer and wrote e-Bay that it owned the copyright to the e-Meter and that if e-Bay did not take down the auction it would be in violation of the DMCA. The seller complied rather than risk jail under the NET Act. I don't think this was a good use of the DMCA, and I would agree with you that the DMCA should not be applied, and is being applied here only because e-Bay is being overly cautious and has been stung by previous lawsuits -- but I don't think the facts are disputed by anybody.

In recent days e-Bay has also been accused of taking down auctions of Microsoft software upon receipt of similar demand letters, and causing to modify the auction ratings of the sellers because of that. Microsoft suspects the software is counterfeit, while the sellers claim the software was legitimately purchased and resellable under First Sale doctrine. However, the dispute is not being waged in court, but rather by letters referring to the DMCA.

See http://slashdot.org and previous postings here for further information.

Dodi, you claim that the DMCA is being used only to protect copyright owners against theft of property; I and others claim it is being used to stifle free speech and to deprive customers of their property; it is a legitimate matter for us to discuss here.  

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