New Copyright Ruling

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compotatoj
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 5:12 am

New Copyright Ruling

Post by compotatoj »

I don't know if you guys are aware of this or not:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/index.html
The Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years.

2. Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and that require the original media or hardware as a condition of access, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of preservation or archival reproduction of published digital works by a library or archive. A format shall be considered obsolete if the machine or system necessary to render perceptible a work stored in that format is no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.

3. Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete. A dongle shall be considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace.
Does this affect ScummVM in any way?
Ender
Retired
Posts: 106
Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:06 am
Location: Perth, Western Australia

Post by Ender »

Yep, we're aware of this (It's not a "New" ruling, the LOC exceptions were made back around 2004 :)

It doesn't particularly effect ScummVM, mostly because very little of our development is conducted in America and under American law - apart from hosting on SourceForge, but also because we already have specific guidelines on when copy protection methods are circumvented.
clem
Posts: 2159
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2005 11:14 am

Post by clem »

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