Some background on the Justice Department's IP report: http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5406654.html Speaking about the Induce Act, here's a link to the archived video from yesterday's event at the Cato Institute: http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=1670 -Declan -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Copyright legislation explained at last? Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 09:34:38 -0400 From: sbaker@private <sbaker@private> To: 'declan@private' <declan@private> CC: Albertazzie, Sally <SAlbertazzie@private> From Steptoe & Johnson's E-Commerce Law Week, Issue 323: *Maybe It's the Republicans Who Sing Versus the Ones Who Don't . . . *Where do Republicans stand on the question of expanded intellectual property liability? Though the party dominates all three branches of government, it's getting harder and harder to tell what Republicans really think about aggressive enforcement of the laws that make Barbra Streisand and Aaron Spelling rich. On the one hand, the Justice Department, led by conservative John Ashcroft, has just written a report on IP policy <http://www.steptoe.com/publications/323a.pdf> that goes deep into the tank for Hollywood, while Majority Leader Frist and Judiciary Chairman Hatch joined their Democratic counterparts in proposing S. 2560 <http://www.steptoe.com/publications/308a.pdf>, yet another expansion of third-party liability for IP violations. (Both Ashcroft and Hatch are known for their singing and their songwriting, while Frist's home state includes Nashville. Perhaps there's a pattern there?) On the other hand, the legislation that all these Republicans joined to endorse ended up being stalled, probably fatally, by a coalition of business interests and the American Conservative Union, at the same time that the Supreme Court refused to hear the RIAA's appeal of a decision <http://www.steptoe.com/publications/281b.pdf> over file-sharing subpoenas. The singing might explain everything, if Justice Scalia weren't such a notorious opera buff. For more on the singing Republican conspiracy, see http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ashpic1.html and http://www.orrinhatchmusic.com/default.aspx. To subscribe to E-Commerce Law Week, click here <http://www.steptoe.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=subscribe>. _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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