DVD-Sharing Device And Fair Use Questions

Legal Issues

from the fighting-the-tide dept

OldYeller writes “Once again, someone’s created a handy device to let consumers exercise their fair-use rights, which is probably getting the MPAA folks all steamed up over piracy. The story is about the Archos video player, which is basically a video iPod that transfers content from DVD players by conveniently bypassing the anti-copy protection on the discs. Transfer time takes about as long as viewing time, so this is not for the impatient. What it does, though, is either let you load up and walk around with a collection of videos to watch (perfect for planes, trains & automobiles), or facilitate the movement of content between DVD players, the device itself, and PCs. The latter is the crux of the legal issue, but it’s the same old tired issue – are devices like this (or VCRs or camera phones or smart-card writers etc.) to be banned because of what they might do, or can we just let innovation improve legitimate uses and punish bad behavior with them instead. As an aside, in all of the discussion I’ve heard and read on this, I’ve never seen a particular analogy brought up – there’s ample legal precedent in the cigarette and handgun/assault-weapon industries to allow the sale of obviously dangerous products that give law-abiding individuals and/or society little real benefit, but can cause much harm to society overall. Why can’t some clever advocates put together a pre-emptive case (as DVD Xcopy or Lindows did) to press the Federal courts to set a precedent allowing these types of devices to be legal for legit (specifically Fair Use) purposes, and direct the regulatory/enforcement focus on behavior with the devices instead.”