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Obama DoJ Goes Against Film Companies

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "If one attempted to distill a single prevailing emotion or attitude about government on Slashdot, I think it is fairly arguable that the winner would be cynicism or skepticism. Well here's a story that could make us skeptical and/or cynical about our skepticism and/or cynicism. Chalk one up for those who like to point out that, occasionally, the system does work. You may recall that the US Supreme Court has been mulling over whether to grant the film industry's petition for certiorari seeking to overturn the important Cartoon Networks v. CSC Holdings decision from the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. This was the case which held that Cablevision's allowing its customers to make copies of shows and store them on Cablevision's servers for later viewing did not constitute a direct copyright infringement by Cablevision, there being no 'copy' made since the files were in RAM and buffered for only a 'transitory' duration. The Supreme Court asked the Obama DoJ to submit an amicus curiae brief, giving its opinion on whether or not the film companies' petition for review should be granted. The government did indeed file such a brief, but the content of the brief (PDF) is probably not what the film companies were expecting. They probably thought they had this one in the bag, since some of the very lawyers who have been representing them have been appointed to the highest echelons of the Obama DoJ. Instead, however, the brief eloquently argued against the film companies' position, dismembering with surgical accuracy each and every argument the film companies had advanced."

5 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. Re:NO by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Hint: if they win the case, then copyright gets less broken. Cases like this help establish the boundaries of copyright law and the legal limits to the abilities of the rights-holders. Unless, of course, you're one of the "hurp copyright is always bad pirating is gud give me everything for freee!111111" mouthbreathers, in which case you can fuck right off.

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
  2. Duh, it's the Jews. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Jews run Hollywood,
    Lawyers are Jews,
    Whoever wins,
    we lose.

    It rhymes so it can't be wrong. Therefore, I think it is appropriate to blame the Jews.

  3. Re:Tactical Deception by ravenshrike · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Yes, like allowing black people to get away with voter intimidation.

  4. one of these days by circletimessquare · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    you will get your head out of your ass and find out that those who rule us aren't alien beings, but human beings just like you. it will probably coincide roughly around the time you realize that you yourself are not some vanguard of moral precision, nor whatever other heroes you have right now that you somehow view as morally perfect

    in fact, if there is such a thing as a truly "evil" politician who achieves success, it is by manipulating the thinking of people just like you, who have this ridiculously sophomoric view of politics, as if it were some sort of gateway to the devil. no, its mostly just well-meaning people trying to do good, with varying degrees of understanding what "good" is

    bush is not evil, he's just stupid. he genuinely means well. he just doesn't have a good grasp on it all

    and even cheney is not evil. the man genuinely believes in a set of principles he identifies with virtue. of course, those principles he believes in are outrageously fucked up, but he's not some sort of lord voldemort or emperor palpatine, which is what your apparent idiotic and simplisitic view of politics suggests. if you were stuck in mineshaft with dick cheney for a month, you would probable emerge thinking that this is no man you would vote for, or even respect, but you would begrudgingly acknowledge that the man has a set of solid beliefs he fights for and thoroughly believes are good for you

    but don't take my word for it, take obama's: the era of moronic partisanship should end. as a paragon of integrity, one of the most integral aspects of obama's integrity is that he knows this painting your political opponents as "evil" is plain wrong. so if you really admire obama, learn from him and change your incredibly moronic way of thinking about politics and politicians

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. nycl by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    you ARE a paragon of virtue, here on slashdot

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it