I was amazed to read this in the 9th Circuit's Napster decision, posted today:
"We agree with the district court that the Audio Home Recording Act does not cover the downloading of MP3 files to computer hard drives. First,"[u]nder the plain meaning of the Act's definition of digital audio recording devices, computers (and their hard drives) are not digital audio recording devices because their 'primary purpose' is not to make digital audio copied recordings." Recording Indus. Ass'n of Am. v. Diamond Multimedia Sys., Inc., 180 F.3d 1072, 1078 (9th Cir. 1999).
Second, notwithstanding Napster's claim that computers are "digital audio recording devices," computers do not make "digital music recordings" as defined by the Audio Home Recording Act. Id. at 1077 (citing S. Rep. 102-294) ("There are simply no grounds in either the plain language of the definition or in the legislative history for interpreting the term 'digital musical recording' to include songs fixed on computer hard drives.")" *****
The people writing this have no idea what they are talking about. First, a computer does not have any "primary purpose." Secondly, there was nothing in the Act or its history that contemplated including computer hard drives in the definition of "digital music recording," because the Act antedates the widespread adoption of such digital technology.
Law firms in general are way behind the times technologically; this is true of judges as well. These people are not technically competent, and they should not be making technical policy in the dark.
Slashdot Mirror
I was amazed to read this in the 9th Circuit's Napster decision, posted today: "We agree with the district court that the Audio Home Recording Act does not cover the downloading of MP3 files to computer hard drives. First,"[u]nder the plain meaning of the Act's definition of digital audio recording devices, computers (and their hard drives) are not digital audio recording devices because their 'primary purpose' is not to make digital audio copied recordings." Recording Indus. Ass'n of Am. v. Diamond Multimedia Sys., Inc., 180 F.3d 1072, 1078 (9th Cir. 1999). Second, notwithstanding Napster's claim that computers are "digital audio recording devices," computers do not make "digital music recordings" as defined by the Audio Home Recording Act. Id. at 1077 (citing S. Rep. 102-294) ("There are simply no grounds in either the plain language of the definition or in the legislative history for interpreting the term 'digital musical recording' to include songs fixed on computer hard drives.")" ***** The people writing this have no idea what they are talking about. First, a computer does not have any "primary purpose." Secondly, there was nothing in the Act or its history that contemplated including computer hard drives in the definition of "digital music recording," because the Act antedates the widespread adoption of such digital technology. Law firms in general are way behind the times technologically; this is true of judges as well. These people are not technically competent, and they should not be making technical policy in the dark.