[dvd-discuss] WIPO + DMCA

["Ballowe, Charles" <CBallowe(at)usg.com>]

All accounts that I've seen indicate that the DMCA was enacted to bring the
U.S. into compliance with the WIPO treaty, but there seems to be some
contradiction between actions with regard to the DMCA and some sections of
the WIPO treaty.

From the WIPO treaty:
					Article 4 - Computer Programs
	Computer programs are protected as literary works within the meaning
of Article 2 of 	the Berne Convention. Such protection applies to
computer programs, whatever may be 	the mode or form of their
expression. 

To me, covering computer programs as literary works would automatically give
them full First Amendment protection. The court seems to be saying that
programs are devices and not literary works. If the DMCA was really meant to
bring the U.S. into compliance with the WIPO treaty, shouldn't the wording
of the WIPO treaty be taken into account when applying the DMCA?

-Charles Ballowe