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RIAA on Fair Use
Posted by Raul Ruiz on Wednesday, October 16 @ 18:08:17 EDT
Contributed by miladus
Copyright
miladus writes "Cary Sherman, president and general counsel of the RIAA, has a piece on Zdnet where he takes on Gary Shapiro of the Consumer Electronics Association. The essay is an attack on "fair use" and a defense of the RIAA's position on file sharing. A couple of interesting (and at times ironic) quotes:

"... Shapiro turns to the old stanby, 'fair use rights'. While he does not explain exactly what these 'rights' would permit, he makes it sound as if copyright owners are against fair use, and implies that fair use allows consumers to download anything they want. In fact, copyright owners rely on the fair use doctrine as much (if not more than) anyone, because so much of what is created may be derivative of another's art."

"But the fact is that real and intellectual property are different and are governed by different principles. Downloading a copyrighted product does not diminish the product, as would be the case of taking and using tangible property such as a dress. At worst, it is depriving the copyright owner of a potential sale." Though Shapiro apparently regards this as a key point, it is actually a distinction without a difference. Let's accept for the moment his assertion that "depriving the copyright owner of a potential sale" does not "diminish the product." In what way, then, is "taking and using tangible property such as a dress" any different? Whether you steal a dress from a store or steal a recording from an artist, you are harming the owner by depriving him or her of a potential sale." "
 
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