It would seem that any state laws that impinge federal copyright law would
be unconstitutional. When any conflict arises, the federal law will win,
because the Constitution clearly gives Congress the authority to regulate
copyright. The only exceptions occur where Congress has been silent (such
as for some unpublished works, for example). But if Congress has spoken on
the issue, the federal law will pre-empt the state law.
-Bodi
>
>
> Highly restrictive copyright and intellectual property legislation are
> the meat and potatoes of protecting in a great range of ways for
> extremely
> long periods of time the lucrative products and productions media and
> entertainment businesses. The latest front is corporation backed
> introduction of highly restrictive copyright legislation by a few state
> legislatures.
>
> --------------------
>
> Library Groups Say Sweeping State Copyright Laws Could Stifle Teaching
> and
> Research
> By ANDREA L. FOSTER
> Tuesday, April 1, 2003
> The Chronicle of Higher Education
>
> Academic-library groups are denouncing copyright-protection bills that
> legislatures in several states are considering. The groups say that the
> bills, if they became law, could erode fair-use rights even more than
> the
> Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the controversial federal law that
> makes
> it illegal to bypass technologies designed to protect digital works.
>
> The state bills are based on model legislation pushed by the Motion
> Picture Association of America and cable operators and programmers. The
> legislation would amend state telecommunications and cable-security laws
> to prevent digital piracy. But the bills' wording is so sweeping that it
> could become illegal to view or copy radio, television, or Internet
> material without communications providers' express permission, says
> Jonathan Band, a Washington lawyer who represents the Association of
> Research Libraries, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the
> American Library Association.
>
> Under the model legislation, theft of a communications service could be
> defined as encompassing a broad range of activities, including "the
> receipt, interception, disruption, and transmission" of broadcast works,
> says Mr. Band.
>
> -----------------------
>
> The complete article may be read at the URL Above.
>
> There are also links at the bottom of this article to related articles
> published by The Chronicle of Higher Education:
>
> Background articles from The Chronicle:
> Supreme Court Upholds Copyright Law Fought by Some Scholars (1/24/2003)
>
> College Groups Challenge Copyright Office on Digital-Copyright Law
> (1/10/2003)
>
> Libraries Criticize Federal Report on Digital-Copyright Law (9/14/2001)
>
> Scholars and Libraries Want Permission to Copy Electronic Materials
> (12/15/2000)
>
> -----------------------
>
>
> Sincerely,
> David Dillard
> Temple University
> (215) 204 - 4584
> jwne[_at_]astro.temple.edu
>
>
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Received on Fri Apr 04 2003 - 09:42:35 GMT
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