Re: [asterisk-users] HR 5889.
On Saturday 05 July 2008 19:59:25 Tom Poe wrote: > Tilghman Lesher wrote: > > On Saturday 05 July 2008 18:33:50 Alex Balashov wrote: > >> I am curious for your thoughts on US HR 5889: > >> > >> http://blamcast.net/articles/orphaned-works-open-source-copyright > >> > >> While I am sure that the implications of this bill, as it appears to be > >> constructed, have no significant implication on Asterisk as such, it > >> could potentially injure the community of open-source addons, modules, > >> and helper applications surrounding it and essential to its use in many > >> scenarios. > > > > After reading the bill in question, I have little doubt that the authors > > of that blog piece are, to put it mildly, full of it. HR 5889 makes > > clear mention of the diligence that is required, and, if notified of the > > infringement, the infringer must cease to make use of the work, unless he > > pays the copyright owner a price that the owner demands. Furthermore, > > the existence of an active email account on the copyrighted work in > > question would completely negate any claim of due diligence, by the plain > > language of the bill. > > > > Additionally, the blog piece completely misses the qualification of the > > commercial database: to qualify, they must contain all authors and all > > contact information, and if any contact information is readily available, > > and they do not put it in their database, they stand to lose > > certification as a copyright database. So much for having to pay to > > register your work. In short, this bill is very well balanced, and I > > certainly hope it becomes law. > > Then again, Lessig felt strong enough about the bill to publish an op-ed > in the NYT. I am not familiar with that. Perhaps you would be kind enough to mention the URL? > By the way, are you familiar with the senator that authored > the bill? The bill in question is HR 5889. That is a House notation, and therefore, this bill was introduced by a Representative. There may be a similar bill before the Senate, but that is not this one. Perhaps you have the legislation confused with another bill? It is not uncommon for the provisions for a similar bill in purpose to be vastly different between the House and Senate versions. I can only speak to the bill I read. -- Tilghman ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [asterisk-users] HR 5889.
On Saturday 05 July 2008 20:01:19 Alex Balashov wrote: > Tilghman Lesher wrote: > > After reading the bill in question, I have little doubt that the authors > > of that blog piece are, to put it mildly, full of it. HR 5889 makes > > clear mention of the diligence that is required > > What would it take to retroactively conjure the due diligence? The bill makes it clear that evidence must be provided that the due diligence was done prior to the infringement or else the defense is not valid. It would be fairly difficult to forge phone records or a record that an email was sent and have it stand up in court. Any person who wants their diligence to stand up in court is going to have to be very careful. I have some history with the other side of this question. I've been active with the Apple II community in the past, and finding legitimate titles in print has been very difficult. Remaining on the correct side of the law for many of these works is very difficult, where even the author doesn't know if they have the rights to the title or if their publishing company, long out of business, has those rights. Without a clear law to distinguish how a reproduction right can be established, many of those software titles might be lost forever. Tracking down the rights holders is very difficult, time- consuming, and has no guarantee of success. In certain cases where both the publisher and the author are able to be contacted, sometimes neither are willing to grant the rights, because they simply aren't sure who owns the copyright. The author points at the publisher, and the publisher points back to the author. Neither wants to be on the wrong side of the law. By the way, just to keep this on topic, Mark long ago printed out the source code to Asterisk and registered the code with the Copyright Office. What is there now can be considered a derivative work of that original piece, so the Asterisk source is fairly safe from these techniques. So as Alex correctly pointed out, even if this were a problem to other projects, Asterisk is safe. -- Tilghman ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [asterisk-users] HR 5889.
Tilghman Lesher wrote: > On Saturday 05 July 2008 18:33:50 Alex Balashov wrote: > >> I am curious for your thoughts on US HR 5889: >> >> http://blamcast.net/articles/orphaned-works-open-source-copyright >> >> While I am sure that the implications of this bill, as it appears to be >> constructed, have no significant implication on Asterisk as such, it could >> potentially injure the community of open-source addons, modules, and >> helper applications surrounding it and essential to its use in many >> scenarios. >> > > After reading the bill in question, I have little doubt that the authors of > that blog piece are, to put it mildly, full of it. HR 5889 makes clear > mention of the diligence that is required, and, if notified of the > infringement, the infringer must cease to make use of the work, unless > he pays the copyright owner a price that the owner demands. Furthermore, > the existence of an active email account on the copyrighted work in question > would completely negate any claim of due diligence, by the plain language > of the bill. > > Additionally, the blog piece completely misses the qualification of the > commercial database: to qualify, they must contain all authors and all > contact information, and if any contact information is readily available, and > they do not put it in their database, they stand to lose certification as a > copyright database. So much for having to pay to register your work. In > short, this bill is very well balanced, and I certainly hope it becomes law. > > Then again, Lessig felt strong enough about the bill to publish an op-ed in the NYT. By the way, are you familiar with the senator that authored the bill? Tom ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [asterisk-users] HR 5889.
Tilghman Lesher wrote: > After reading the bill in question, I have little doubt that the authors of > that blog piece are, to put it mildly, full of it. HR 5889 makes clear > mention of the diligence that is required What would it take to retroactively conjure the due diligence? -- Alex Balashov Evariste Systems Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/ Tel: (+1) (678) 954-0670 Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671 Mobile : (+1) (706) 338-8599 ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
Re: [asterisk-users] HR 5889.
On Saturday 05 July 2008 18:33:50 Alex Balashov wrote: > I am curious for your thoughts on US HR 5889: > > http://blamcast.net/articles/orphaned-works-open-source-copyright > > While I am sure that the implications of this bill, as it appears to be > constructed, have no significant implication on Asterisk as such, it could > potentially injure the community of open-source addons, modules, and > helper applications surrounding it and essential to its use in many > scenarios. After reading the bill in question, I have little doubt that the authors of that blog piece are, to put it mildly, full of it. HR 5889 makes clear mention of the diligence that is required, and, if notified of the infringement, the infringer must cease to make use of the work, unless he pays the copyright owner a price that the owner demands. Furthermore, the existence of an active email account on the copyrighted work in question would completely negate any claim of due diligence, by the plain language of the bill. Additionally, the blog piece completely misses the qualification of the commercial database: to qualify, they must contain all authors and all contact information, and if any contact information is readily available, and they do not put it in their database, they stand to lose certification as a copyright database. So much for having to pay to register your work. In short, this bill is very well balanced, and I certainly hope it becomes law. -- Tilghman ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
[asterisk-users] HR 5889.
Hi folks, I am curious for your thoughts on US HR 5889: http://blamcast.net/articles/orphaned-works-open-source-copyright While I am sure that the implications of this bill, as it appears to be constructed, have no significant implication on Asterisk as such, it could potentially injure the community of open-source addons, modules, and helper applications surrounding it and essential to its use in many scenarios. -- Alex -- Alex Balashov Evariste Systems Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/ Tel: (+1) (678) 954-0670 Direct : (+1) (678) 954-0671 Mobile : (+1) (706) 338-8599 ___ -- Bandwidth and Colocation Provided by http://www.api-digital.com -- AstriCon 2008 - September 22 - 25 Phoenix, Arizona Register Now: http://www.astricon.net asterisk-users mailing list To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
