The United States Copyright Office reportedly completed its statutorily required review of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) recently. Three major exemptions included in the ruling were a renewal on the exemption for cell-phone unlocking, a new exemption for the jail-breaking of smart phones technology, and the use of visual media clips for transformative, non-commercial works. The ruling has reportedly resulted in a flood of optimism from a range of open access advocates.
The Copyright Office ruling on the DMCA is held every third year, and was released on July 26, 2010. The ruling is available online at http://www.copyright.gov/1201.
The campaign for the first of the two exemptions was spearheaded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which hailed the ruling. "Unlocking" is when a cellphone owner reworks the phone so that it can run on alternative provider networks than the one through which it was activated. "Jailbreaking" is the modification of software on smart phones so as to be interoperable with other operating systems. EFF and the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) joined together to gain the final exemption, useful in the world of "vidding" or using short clips from films, television and other media sources in order to create a new work that comments upon, criticises or otherwise engages with the old one.
These exemptions will have to undergo new scrutiny in order to be renewed through the same process in three years. For the moment, the vidding exemption is seen to open up new ground for professionals working on presentations, artists and educators to grapple with visual media while being certain they are covered by Fair Use Doctrine, according to sources.
Search for more Government Acts / Policies / Regulations
Get customisable STM news alerts in your Mobile. Visit http://www.scopeknowledge.com/scoope.jar via your mobile browser to download the SCOOPE application
