- From: Wendy Seltzer <wendy@seltzer.com>
- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 15:05:25 -0400
- To: <www-annotation@w3.org>
The "smart tags" furor has been interesting -- with many people seemingly opposed just because it's Microsoft. I'd argue that there is no copyright claim against a website annotator (either the technology or the person who adds and views notes). Although some copyright maximalists would disagree, I'd argue that a reader has the right to combine two sources of information in his web browser just as he could write notes in a book's margins. Annotation is akin to viewing the work under different lighting, not creating a derivative work. If Microsoft is sloppy enough or too overbearing, there might be an unfair competition claim, but that would depend more on the business practices than the technology. At 01:47 PM 6/18/01 -0400, Jon Garfunkel wrote: >At 01:24 PM 6/17/2001 -0500, Wesley M. Felter wrote: > >BTW, I don't think it's accurate to say that annotation can't be > >prevented. Annotation software developers can only fight off so many > >lawsuits before they go bankrupt. > >Huh? Have their been any annotation lawsuits? By whom, over what? I still >think that the "grafitti" complaint is spurrious, aside from the cases >where offensive or libelous content is annotated on. If anyone knows of any lawsuits or threat letters, I'd be very interested to hear about them. I might have better luck applying my legal than programming skills. >The courts, at least in the U.S., just don't allow a technology to be >killed. If the technology has some social value, some vendors work with the >gov to meet the guidelines established for its use. I wish I could be so sanguine! The Second and Ninth Circuits (DeCSS and Napster) seem well on their way to declaring that certain technologies have no social value, or are illegal notwithstanding possible valuable uses. Litigation can be very expensive, and many developers seem to settle rather than pushing their claims through the courts, so the bargaining is usually between the "upstart innovator / pirate" and the established industry, not with the government. --Wendy -- Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.com Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html
Received on Monday, 18 June 2001 15:00:06 UTC