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Author Drops Copyright Case Against Scribd Filter

natehoy writes "Apparently, monitoring for copyright violations is not in itself a copyright violation, lawyers for Elaine Scott decided. As a result, they have dropped the lawsuit against Scribd, who was being simultaneously sued for allowing copies of Scott's work to be published, and retaining an unlicensed copy of the work in their filtering software to try and prevent future copyright violations."

6 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Seriously? by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What do you even say to that kind of idiot?

    "Case dismissed."

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  2. Re:Seriously? by nebaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't know if it is getting ridiculous as much as the law itself is just confusing and unclear. It requires court arbitration to figure out the simplest of questions. "Is ripping CDs for a backup 'fair use'?", etc. Unfortunately, law is worse than code in terms of legacy support. Think of this as the ultimate code bloat legacy application. All you want to do is gut the whole thing and start over, but management will not entertain that motion at all.

    --
    Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
  3. Re:Seriously? by cgenman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sorry, a hash is a derivative work.

  4. Re:Seriously? by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know if it is getting ridiculous as much as the law itself is just confusing and unclear.

    It doesn't need to be, the original laws on the subject were pretty easy to understand, and pretty reasonable. Each time they revise it though it just gets worse and worse.

    --
    Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
  5. Re:Seriously? by blair1q · · Score: 5, Funny

    The deposition goes like so:

    Plaintiff's attorney: Are you blocking users from uploading content belonging to my client?

    Defendant: Yes.

    Plaintiff's attorney: How?

    Defendant: We compare uploaded items to a copy of the book on our server.

    Plaintiff's attorney: I see. And did you pay for it?

    Defendant: What?

    Plaintiff's attorney: This book, that you have on your server.

    Defendant: Uh, yes. We bought it at Borders and scanned it in.

    Plaintiff's attorney: Did you buy a license to make an electronic copy of the hardcopy you purchased?

    Defendant: A what?

    Plaintiff's attorney: (makes a note).

    Defendant: Aw, shit.

  6. Re:Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted and you create a nation of law-breakers. --Ayn Rand