Thursday, September 29, 2005
I knew it, I just knew it.
The High Court will be handing down its decision in Stevens v Sony - the anti-circumvention law case about mod-chips - next Thursday, 6 October 2005.
Exactly one day before submissions are due in the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee inquiry about exceptions to the new TPM laws required by the FTA.
Sigh.
One would think it would be a good idea to extent the LACA deadline slightly. Sony may be about the old law, but the present state of the law is always relevant when you are thinking about what the next set of laws should be. And while strictly speaking Sony is more about the definition of TPMs than exceptions, as the LACA head Peter Slipper recognised, definitional issues are not entirely distinct from issues about what exceptions are needed. If the meaning of 'TPM' is defined broadly, then more exceptions are required.
It's worth pointing out that as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong), the Australian High Court will be the first 'highest court of appeal' to consider anti-circumvention laws. The DMCA hasn't yet reached the US Supreme Court; nor have such laws reached the House of Lords in the UK (Canada I think doesn't even have the laws yet).
Comments:
Post a Comment
