Wal-Mart "Superman Returns" An Example of Copyright Office Overzealousness

November 30, 2006

OK, show of hands. How many Digital Millennium Copyright Act fans here?

I see one..wait, there's another over in the right-hand corner of the room.

For those multitudes who are not such big fans, you'll like this account from the New York Times:

Customers who purchase the physical DVD of Warner Brothers "Superman Returns" in a Wal-Mart store will have the option of downloading a digital copy of the film to their portable devices for $1.97, PC for $2.97 or both for $3.97.

So what's wrong with this deal?

Let's see you buy the DVD, but it really isn't yours.

As the Electornic Frontier Foundation's Fred von Lohmann explains today, that's because the U.S. Copyright Office has deisgned not to recognize any DCMA exemption for space-shifting.

In their perpetually wise judgment, shape-shifting "is either infringing, or even if it were noninfringing, would merely be an inconvenience."

One word:

Huh?