[dvd-discuss] Ideas for class of works for DMCA exemption

[Bryan Taylor <bryan_w_taylor(at)yahoo.com>]

I'm starting to brainstorm on my submission to the Copyright Office for
exemptions to the 1201(a) anticircumvention ban.

The EFF has a nice howto on making submissions that might actually influence
things. It's quite valuable:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/dmca_comments_howto.html

Anyway, here are some of my ideas of classes of works to be exempted. THoughts
and feedback are welcome.

class of works 1: player device software or firmware designed to impede
interoperability of the player with independent 3rd party works. Examples: "mod
chips" for game consoles that allow unsigned code to run should not be
prohibited by the DMCA. I need to track down that case under Australia's
version of the DMCA.

class of works 2: digital works sold to the public for which no analogue
TPM-free analogue version is published, "in print", and generally available for
sale [if fair use is not raped b/c analogue is available then require it to be
available for that reason]

class of works 3: Works published or owned by companies or authors that engage
in anticompetitive business practices, antitrust violations, and/or deceptive
trade practices involving their copyrighted products. The period of exception
shall begin upon the rendering of a final judgement or legal settlement against
the company and shall last until three years pass without a judicial or
settlement finding of continued improper behavior. Examples: MS for antitrust,
RIAA for price fixing

class of works 4: data sets, lists, databases, or other collections whose
individual elements are public domain facts, not the original expression of the
data set creator or licensing contributor thereto, or otherwise not
copyrightable by the data set creator. Examples: the CDDB thing, the recent
price list thing

class of works 5: a work or compilations containing a work whose copyright has
expired Examples: DVD's of the really old movies

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