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September 14, 2005
Kids: Understand the USPTO's reality distortion field
Posted by Wendy Seltzer
Robyn alerts me to the USPTO's kids' pages, where they've posted a colorful -- but sharply slanted -- "Put a stop to piracy" campaign. We thought it needed a bit of annotation to help kids understand (red from the USPTO page, black mine):
CAN YOU TELL WHAT'S WRONG?
...
You hook up a VCR to your DVD player and make copies of your movie collections as gifts for your pals.
Sorry. You try to hook the two together but Macrovision prevents you from getting a clear picture, even when the movies you want to copy are no longer in print or you're trying to extract scenes to add to commentaries. You probably won't be able to find a macrovision-less VCR, because Macrovision has been suing their makers for patent infringement.
You capture pictures from TV shows and post them on your website along with soundbytes that make you laugh.
Great, you've got a pre-broadcast-flag TV setup that lets you make fair use of media. Hold onto it, because if Hollywood and the FCC have their way, you'll be technologically prevented from grabbing these captures in the future. A "soundbyte" sounds ok, just remember that a sound-gigabyte probably exceeds fair use.
You buy a fake pair of designer shoes from a street vendor - they look like the real thing and cost only a few dollars.
Cool, so long as they weren't made by sweatshop labor and you weren't deceived into thinking you'd bought real designer merchandise. You've just saved yourself a bundle and helped the free market. Fashion designs aren't copyrightable, and trademark protects only against consumer confusion.
Can you spot others? Remember, kids, "these laws and regulations as well as the application process can be very complicated."
Comments (4)
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1. Copyrighter on September 15, 2005 11:43 AM writes...
I see that Copyfight is still a bunch of wanna-be technologists who think people care about your opinions. Copying copyrighted material is wrong. It's stealing. Get over it and get a life. No one in the entertainment industry gives two cents about your uninformed opinion regarding marketing, music or whatever.
Permalink to Comment2. Robert Nagle on September 16, 2005 5:14 PM writes...
Your cousin asks to borrow your music CD so he can "burn" a copy.
The music groups on MTV don't want people to share their music unless you pay money to their lawyers. But many other groups let you listen and share their music for free!
"You and your friends decide to share the cost of one copy of a software package and install it on all everyone's laptops so you can all save money." If you look around hard enough, you can probably find a similar program that does the same thing for cheap or free. That way, you can learn a cool program and be able to install it anywhere and anytime you want!
"Modern day pirates have chests full of music, movie and software treasure that they have downloaded illegally from the Internet or perhaps bought from another pirate such as a unscrupulous street vendor."
Many old films and sound recordings are disappearing because companies are not doing anything to preserve them.Luckily, many amateur collectors are making this task easier.
***
Seriously, a good understanding of the terminology and copyright concepts is a good thing for youngsters. Why? It teaches them to avoid restrictive EULAs and devise their own nonproprietary solutions. I would have loved to know the basic information on this sheet in high school for example.
If the governmental site really wanted to be educational, they should have created a two column chart, one labeled Myth, the other labeled Reality. Then they could cite various extragavant myths claimed on both sides.
Here's some myths on the other side:
"Disney says I can't make screenshots from a DVD for a class project."
Well.....(fair use).
"Artists who work for media companies say we need to forbid sharing so the artists can make money.."
Well, (quotes about music contracts, etc).
"MY dad says it's illegal to use bittorrent/emule/etc."
Well, in fact....
Etc.
Permalink to Comment3. Robert Nagle on September 16, 2005 5:20 PM writes...
Shucks, I should have known that clicking the post button twice (after a period of waiting) wasn't a bright idea. Sorry.
Permalink to Comment4. Adam on September 18, 2005 11:43 PM writes...
Just because the entertainment industry says (or lobbies lawmakers to say) it's "Stealing" does not mean it actually is. Copyfighter, your attitude is that of one-sidedness in favor the entertainment industry, when what should be sought is a fair balance between the consumers' and industries' desires. If you think the entertainment industry is always in the right, just take a look at what kind of things they are doing: (http://p2pnet.net/story/6283)
Permalink to CommentIt is clear they have and continue to try move that balance closer to their ideal, we are simply doing our best to resist that and keep things fair.