Orrin Hatch to Lead Senate Panel on Copyright, Patents

Posted by timothy on Sunday March 20, 2005 @12:49AM from the can-we-batten-down-the-hatches? dept.

PontifexPrimus writes "Senator Orrin Hatch, (in)famous for his idea of destroying the computers of copyright violators is to head a Senate 'panel, which will have jurisdiction over copyright, trademark and patent law, as well as treaties intended to protect American intellectual property overseas.' Looks like file sharing will finally be erased once and for all. Oh, and this looks like another field day for those who refuse to subsume patent, trademark and copyright law under the heading of 'IP law.'"

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Re:I think I can speak for all of us when I say... by bsartist · 2005-03-20 01:17 · Score: 1, Troll

Why? Keep in mind that copyright protection is what gives the GPL its teeth. So any legislation from Hatch & Co. will cut both ways - if it can be used as a basis to sue Metallica downloaders, it can also be used as a basis to sue GPL violators.

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