13 Jul 06 Who is Responsible for Stopping Counterfeiting?
When I look at questions like this I am reminded of the U.S. Supreme Court case, “Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.” also know and the “Betamax Case”. The decision of the court was that “making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright infringement, but is fair use. The Court also ruled that the manufacturers of home video recording devices, such as Betamax or other VCRs (referred to as VTRs in the case), cannot be liable for infringement.” (Wikipedia)
It established a rule for technology that might be used to infringe copyright law, specifically: “The question is thus whether the Betamax is capable of commercially significant noninfringing uses…” (464 U.S. 417)
I think this is a excellent test for all technology. If a product is capable of and primarily used for legal purposes then thats all I require. I am not interested in buying anti-counterfeiting printers or scanners. I am not going to counterfeit anything, but as the consumer I have to pay a higher price for something I don’t want.
This puts government in a bad spot, but penalizing the many for the actions of the few is not acceptable.
References:
Wikipedia Foundation (2006). Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. [WWW Page].
U.S. Supreme Court (1984). Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 [WWW Page].
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