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Betamax is Dead, Long Live the Judgment
By Mark Gibbs
Conventional wisdom has always held that Sony's Betamax format
was better than its rival, the VHS standard. Alas, there are no
technical grounds for this argument, and real reasons for the
demise of Betamax were twofold: Betamax tapes were only one hour
long, which made consumers turn to the much longer VHS format;
and, according to Sony founder Akio Morita, the company refused
to license the format, which severely limited the growth of its
market.
But there's one lasting legacy of the Betamax format - a court
case. The case, Sony vs. Universal (
<http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/sony_v_universal_decision.php> )
- better known as the Betamax Decision - concluded that, though
some people used VCRs to copy movies, they also have what the
court termed "substantial non-infringing uses" and thus were
legal.
This decision was hugely important because it created a
foundation that has protected emerging products and technologies
that can be used to infringe on the rights of copyright holders.
Without this judgment the media and entertainment companies -
which usually have far deeper pockets than those they seek to
destroy - would have been able to attack any product or
technology by which they felt threatened. Products that would
have been in the sights of big media would include Apple's iPod,
CD burners and peer-to-peer systems, all of which the
entertainment industry despises because they have no control
over them.
Before any of you say, "What about Napster, it got shut down,"
remember that Napster maintained a central directory of content
and the company's inability to remove copyrighted items from
public access was what got them in trouble.
Last week the activist organization
<http://www.savebetamax.org/> (actually an alias of the
wonderfully named Downhill Battle organization
<http://www.downhillbattle.org/> ) organized a call-in day to
help defend the decision from the possible assault by the
nascent Inducing Infringement of Copyright Act (S.2560
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:s2560:> ), better
known as the Induce Act.
The Induce Act is an ugly piece of legislation sponsored by Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). It seems Hatch just can't stay away from
really bad legislation (
<http://napps.nwfusion.com/compendium/archive/002978.html> )
involving computer and network technology.
Hatch's bill, to quote the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF),
"would make it a crime to aid, abet or induce copyright
infringement. He wants us all to think that the Induce Act is no
big deal and that it only targets the bad guys while leaving the
good guys alone. He says it doesn't change the law; it just
clarifies it. He's wrong."
To prove the point, the EFF has drafted a fake complaint (
<http://www.eff.org/IP/Apple_Complaint.php> ) to illustrate how
the Induce Act could be used.
"The Induce Act further defines the term 'intentionally induces'
to mean 'intentionally aids, abets, induces or procures, and
intent may be shown by acts from which a reasonable person would
find intent to induce infringement based upon all relevant
information about such acts then reasonably available to the
actor, including whether the activity relies on infringement for
its commercial viability.' Under this law, the defendants are
liable for up to $150,000 for each song illegally copied by iPod
users and all iPods must be declared illegal."
The idea behind the savebetamax.org effort was for as many
people as possible to call key members of Congress to make them
aware of the implications of the bill and turn public sentiment
against it. More than 5,000 people signed up to make calls!
The importance of defeating the Induce Act should not be
underestimated. Should it become law, the dampening effect on
U.S. innovation and technology will be profound. Keep an eye on
this bill, sign up at savebetamax.com, and make sure your
representatives hear from you. I, for one, don't want to give up
my iPod.
Copyright Network World, Inc., 2004
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/gibbs.html
Next week, we'll discuss what Downhill Battle is trying to do.
Rage against Sen Hatch's machinations to
<mailto:backspin@gibbs.com>.
--
LP
In politics, moderation is the best policy
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The Induce Act is an ugly piece of legislation sponsored by Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). It seems Hatch just can't stay away from
really bad legislation (
<http://napps.nwfusion.com/compendium/archive/002978.html> )
involving computer and network technology.
Sadly, that's what happens when you have a bunch of old farts who know
nothing about technology making the rules. Hatch probably thinks computers
are still bigger than his Congressional ego. <g>
RIAA in particular would do well to learn from the motion picture industry's
handling of VHS technology (IIRC VHS/DVD sales are now about on par with
movie ticket sales) or they'll ultimately self-destruct as new artists and
studios cater to the vast Internet music industry and tell RIAA to shove it.
Stuart Warren
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LeMod Pol wrote:
The importance of defeating the Induce Act should not be
underestimated. Should it become law, the dampening effect on
U.S. innovation and technology will be profound. Keep an eye on
this bill, sign up at savebetamax.com, and make sure your
representatives hear from you. I, for one, don't want to give up
my iPod.
Frankly, I am all in favor of this bill. The US needs to
have many such dampening effects put on its economy, so
that it will be reduced to Third-World status as soon as
possible. America needs to shoot itself in the foot, and
badly, in order to shake people out of their complacency.
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Stuart Warren wrote:
Sadly, that's what happens when you have a bunch of old farts who know
nothing about technology making the rules. Hatch probably thinks computers
are still bigger than his Congressional ego. <g>
RIAA in particular would do well to learn from the motion picture industry's
handling of VHS technology (IIRC VHS/DVD sales are now about on par with
movie ticket sales) or they'll ultimately self-destruct as new artists and
studios cater to the vast Internet music industry and tell RIAA to shove it.
I think it is plain that record companies are going to lose market share
massively as artists are forced to open up downloading of their songs.
Who is going to pay $15 for a cd from some new artist when another
artist who is new is giving their material away? There will be a tipping
point and then it will be all over. There is no marketing more powerful
than free.
--
"And he did bring them. It took a number of years, but one by one he
brought them here. Except for his father, that old man died where he was
born." -+ "Elia Kazan, "America, America"
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