Probably because Netscape didn't "commission" (i.e. buy) their own (favorable) benchmark, and Novell and Microsoft both disregard Netscape as a competitor in the directory market.
"Sony understandably seeks control over the market for devices that play games Sony produces or licenses. The copyright law, however, does not confer such a monopoly. See id. at 1523-24 ("[A]n attempt to monopolize the market by making it impossible for others to compete runs counter to the statutory purpose of promoting creative expression and cannot constitute a strong equitable basis for resisting the invocation of the fair use doctrine.").
I haven't really followed this copyright thing re collection/compilation of facts, but isn't the point of the law to prevent you from selling your own compilation copied directly from an existing compilation? For instance, if I gather a list of U.S. Presidents from government records and publish it on my web site, I think you'd only be prevented from directly copying my list and presenting it as your own, not from compiling your own list from other sources.
What the government actually taxes is almost irrelevant -- it takes a certain amount of $$ to run the government, provide benefits & services, etc. If revenue is dropping due to a change in the population's behavior (e.g. e-mail instead of postal mail in this case, or buying over the tax-free internet v. purchases subject to sales tax), either government spending decreases, existing revenue sources are amplified, or new revenue sources are found. Since the first option isn't too likely, someone (most likely you) is going to pay -- it'll just get hidden as a sales tax increase, an extra charge on your utility bill, removal of an income tax deduction, etc.
So, wise up, learn more about how your government(s) actually raise and spend money, and make your opinion known.
Slashdot Mirror
Probably because Netscape didn't "commission" (i.e. buy) their own (favorable) benchmark, and Novell and Microsoft both disregard Netscape as a competitor in the directory market.
I found this portion of the ruling interesting:
"Sony understandably seeks control over the market for devices that play games Sony produces or licenses. The copyright law, however, does not confer such a monopoly. See id. at 1523-24 ("[A]n attempt to monopolize the market by making it impossible for others to compete runs counter to the statutory purpose of promoting creative expression and cannot constitute a strong equitable basis for resisting the invocation of the fair use doctrine.").
I haven't really followed this copyright thing re collection/compilation of facts, but isn't the point of the law to prevent you from selling your own compilation copied directly from an existing compilation? For instance, if I gather a list of U.S. Presidents from government records and publish it on my web site, I think you'd only be prevented from directly copying my list and presenting it as your own, not from compiling your own list from other sources.
What the government actually taxes is almost irrelevant -- it takes a certain amount of $$ to run the government, provide benefits & services, etc. If revenue is dropping due to a change in the population's behavior (e.g. e-mail instead of postal mail in this case, or buying over the tax-free internet v. purchases subject to sales tax), either government spending decreases, existing revenue sources are amplified, or new revenue sources are found. Since the first option isn't too likely, someone (most likely you) is going to pay -- it'll just get hidden as a sales tax increase, an extra charge on your utility bill, removal of an income tax deduction, etc.
So, wise up, learn more about how your government(s) actually raise and spend money, and make your opinion known.