legaldocs | (Reply)

From:

elf

This one's got some *fascinating* points. Although the ruling went against the torrenting, the judge seemed to be begging the defense to provide her with something she could allow:

As it made clear previously, the Court was prepared to consider a more expansive fair use argument than other courts have credited -- perhaps one supported by facts specific to this individual and this unique period of rapid technological change. For example, file sharing for the purposes of sampling music prior to purchase or space-shifting to store purchased music more efficiently might offer a compelling case for fair use. Likewise, a defendant who used the new file-sharing networks in the technological interregnum before digital media could be purchased legally, but who later shifted to paid outlets, might also be able to rely on the defense.

This implies "but there is no digital version!" might be a reasonable defense for filesharing--which would allow older comic scans and a lot of ebook conversions.

Wow. If the Harry Potter ebooks that bounce around the 'net ever go to trial, I want them to get this judge.