Several Silicon Valley IP counsels released an article on recent litigations and practices surrounding DRM. The authors finely note that with the backdrop of frantic criticisms against DRM, business models and consumer products increasingly leverage DRM technologies. The article also makes the keen observation that policy arguments by groups purportedly worried about loss of freedom or culture to consumers (like you and I, personally I feel like my freedom and culture are doing fine, 'never been better:) have not informed litigations aimed at companies that bring cutting edge technologies to market. Excerpts:

…DRM systems have… become increasingly prevalent and accepted by consumers of digital media… users of the iTunes music store are no longer surprised that downloaded music can only be moved between several machines and may only be heard on particular computers or their iPod® portable device. The existence of such DRM technologies have encouraged record labels and movie studios to make their works available for digital distribution, a long-awaited development in the world of digital media.

Despite the increasing acceptance of DRM, there has been a recent series of backlash cases involving alleged harm to users caused by DRM systems. The complaints in these cases are interesting... while they explicitly or implicitly articulate policy concerns such as unwarranted limitations on "fair use," those ideas are not the basis of the claims. Rather, the gravamen of the claims concern much more practical issues... It is clear that this approach is simply the most recent strategy by opponents of content restrictions now that constitutional and policy-based challenges to the DMCA have failed.

...there are potentially difficult waters to navigate regarding DRM systems, given the new litigation strategy of DRM opponents. The content owners involved in these recent disputes were blind-sided...content owners waited too long to take the issues seriously. Content owners must pay attention to these matters, in order to ensure that secure and trusted digital distribution of works becomes a permanent part of the landscape.

posted by Noel Le @ 11:33 PM | DMCA, DRM & Watermarks, etc.

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