New on Copyright Colloquium: Furchtgott-Roth, Brendan Scott

³COPYRIGHT COLLOQUIUM,² The Media Institute¹s online IP forum, has posted
two provocative new pieces ‹ a withering analysis by economist and former FCC commissioner HAROLD FURCHTGOTT-ROTH, and a pointed challenge to copyright holders by Australian attorney BRENDAN SCOTT. Check them out. Your comments and responses are welcome! (See ³Write Us!² on the Copyright Colloquium site.) -Rick Kaplar

³Eroding Property Rights: The Pseudo-economics of Copyright in Justice
Breyer¹s Eldred Dissent,²
by former FCC commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Furchtgott-Roth Economic Enterprises

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer dissented from the majority opinion upholding copyright extensions in Eldred v. Ashcroft. Economist and former FCC commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth analyzes five economic arguments Justice Breyer made, and finds that ³each argument, although persuasively presented, is incorrect.² Justice Breyer believes that intellectual property would better fit in the public rather than private realm, but Comm. Furchtgott-Roth methodically destroys each of his economic arguments. ³There may well be good reasons to limit the terms of copyrights; economics, however, provides little justification,² Comm. Furchtgott-Roth concludes.

Read Harold Furchtgott-Roth here:
http://www.mediainstitute.org/colloquium/articles/2003/article10/article.htm l

"The Copyright End Game,"
by Brendan Scott, Esq., Editorial Board member, Internet Law Journal

Legislative moves to strengthen the position of copyright holders may only make consumers more cynical, according to Brendan Scott, an information technology attorney in Sydney, Australia. Holders must develop an ³ethic of responsibility² toward users based on principles such as ³no hoarding,² ³no censorship,² and ³no charge without value.² Holders must honor their responsibilities if they expect users to honor the holders¹ rights. The alternative will be broad-based consumer complicity in copyright infringement.

Read Brendan Scott here:
http://www.mediainstitute.org/colloquium/articles/2003/article09/article.htm l

COPYRIGHT COLLOQUIUM is at http://www.mediainstitute.org/colloquium/ Received on Wed Apr 16 2003 - 02:42:31 GMT