[cc-licenses] CC licenses and Zune DRM are a good match?

Andres Guadamuz a.guadamuz at ed.ac.uk
Sat Sep 30 08:52:59 EDT 2006


I've been reading the comments and the many reports on the Zune v CC 
DRM, and I must admit that I'm having a difficult time imagining why 
this is important for CC content.

Let's say that you copy the Wired CD into your computer and then 
transfer files to your Zune. We can agree that this is perfectly 
acceptable under the terms of the licences. From what I understand, Zune 
will not change the rights on the content or place any DRM on it. The 
potential problem happens when you transfer the files using Zune's 
wireless sharing feature. The recipient Zune will not change the file, 
but will refuse to play after three days (please correct me if this is 
not the case). While this is an annoying feature, I do not believe that 
it contravenes the existing terms of the licence because one-off copying 
is not distribution, although I admit that different legislations may 
define distribution differently. The Generic 2.5 licences specifies that:

"You may not distribute, publicly display, publicly perform, or publicly 
digitally perform the Work with any technological measures that control 
access or use of the Work in a manner inconsistent with the terms of 
this License Agreement."

Nothing stops you from transferring the files via another medium (such 
as burning a CD or placing the files on a USB stick), or even 
downloading the content directly.

Regards,

Andres

------------------
Andres Guadamuz
AHRC Research Centre for Studies in
Intellectual Property and Technology Law
Old College, South Bridge
Edinburgh EH8 9YL

Tel: 44 (0)131 6509699
Fax: 44 (0)131 6506317
a.guadamuz at ed.ac.uk
http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrb/
http://technollama.blogspot.com/



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