RE: [dvd-discuss] DMCA Twist

[Richard Hartman <hartman(at)onetouch.com>]

The TPM is the code in the iDVD application
that prevents use of that application with any
other drive.

Reverse engineering to determine what you need
to do for interoperability is ok (figuring out
how to make iDVD work with a different drive) 
-- there is an exception in the law for that.

Making a commercial product out of what you find,
however, is now "trafficking in a circumvention
device" if it lets you use iDVD with any other
drive because you are bypassing their TPM ...


-- 
-Richard M. Hartman
hartman@onetouch.com

186,000 mi/sec: not just a good idea, it's the LAW!



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bryan Taylor [mailto:bryan_w_taylor@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 1:50 PM
> To: dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
> Subject: Re: [dvd-discuss] DMCA Twist
> 
> 
> 
> I am completely baffled by this. First of all, applying a 
> patch to software
> that Apple owns would be simple copyright infringement, since 
> the result would
> be an unauthorized derivitive work. It *might* be fair use if 
> an end user does
> it for interoperability reasons, but for a dealer to do it is 
> almost certainly
> not fair use. 
> 
> Second, the DMCA prohibits circumvention of TPMs without the 
> authority of the
> copyright holder. I can't identify any TPM that protects 
> Apple's works. Even if
> there were one, the reverse engineering clause should allow 
> bypassing a TPM to
> identify software elements needed for interoperability, so it 
> seems unlikely
> that  any of the DMCA protections would apply.
> 
> So basically what we have is an Apple dealer doing something 
> that is clearly
> infringing and Apple sueing them under a different law that 
> they are not
> violating. Bizarre. Another possiblity is that CNet is confused.
> 
> 
> --- Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@realmeasures.dyndns.org> wrote:
> 
> > CNET reports that Apple has reined in Other World Computers
> > - an accredited Apple dealer and developer - from offering a
> > patch to its new iDVD application:
> > 
> > "...At issue in the legal threat is Apple's well-received
> > iDVD application, which permits users to burn DVDs only on
> > internal drives manufactured by Apple. In unmodified form,
> > it does not permit writing to external drives manufactured
> > by third parties.
> > 
> > That means Macintosh owners with older computers or laptop
> > computers, or people who opted not to buy the
> > "Superdrive"-equipped Macs, could not use iDVD to save
> > movies.
> > 
> > In response, Other World Computing began bundling a product
> > called DVD Enabler with its external Mercury Pro DVD-R/RW
> > FireWire drive. DVD Enabler modified iDVD so the application
> > would save completed DVDs to a FireWire-connected drive...."
> > 
> > Apparently Apple threatened OWC - which immediately backed
> > off - with a DMCA suit for circumventing copy control.
> > 
> > Trouble is, it seems to me the content being copy controlled
> > wouldn't be Apple's - it would be the system owners
> > (assuming no piracy, for argument's sake).  So how would
> > DMCA apply? I appreciate OWC didn't feel like taking issue -
> > but am I right in the view it could have - or am I missing
> > something?
> > 
> > Full story at:
> > http://news.com.com/2100-1023-955805.html
> > Simon Minahan
> > ............................................
> > sminahan@eddress.com.au
> > 
> > The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that
> > hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. Pr 12:15
> > 
> > 
> > 
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