Better

Stacy Cowley of IDG News, today at ITworld.com:

Without taking a position on whether SCC's chips illegally incorporate Lexmark code, the Copyright Office ruled that the DMCA does not block software developers from using reverse engineering to circumvent digital protection of copyright material if they do so to achieve interoperability with an independently created computer program.

[ ] SCC had asked the Copyright Office to recommend several DMCA exemptions that would protect its efforts to defeat Lexmark's protection technology. Those requested exemptions are unnecessary because existing DMCA statutes already allow the kind of reverse engineering that SCC could have used to thwart Lexmark's protections, the agency said in a lengthy memo of recommendations about exemptions to the DMCA.

(Emphasis added, and indicates that unlike many of her colleagues Ms. Cowley probably did read the Rulemaking and Register's Recommendation.) I have been surprised and disappointed by the sheer volume of bad reporting on that portion of the Rulemaking that touched on Static Control's rejected exemption request and the Lexmark v. Static Control dispute. Even my favorite television program got taken in, and simply parroted (and drew unsupportable conclusions from) one of the worst early stories that appeared.

Today's New Blawg

Ok, deep breath, "this-is-the-blawg-that-JackBruce-built" litany to follow.

Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. (ISS) provides proxy voting and corporate governance services to publicly traded companies. Securities Class Action Services (SCAS) is the part of ISS that "track[s] class action suits, state and SEC settlements and file[s] claims that entitle clients to share in settlement awards." Bruce Carton is Executive Director of SCAS, a former Piper Rudnick securities litigator, and former Senior Counsel to the SEC's U.S. enforcement division.

Still with me? Bruce writes Securities Litigation Watch, a blawg full of news and resources relating to securities lawsuits—for instance, advice for traders from one who's been there about how to get the SEC's Division of Enforcement all over you like a bad suit. Very specialized and knowledgeable, good securities law resource. [Via Blawg.org]

Are You Exempt? (And Has The Media Read What It's Reporting On?)

Ernest Miller has a comprehensive run-down of links related to yesterday's DMCA Rulemaking. [Via Donna Wentworth]

For those of you following the Lexmark v. Static Control case (in which I and my firm have submitted an amicus brief), the Rulemaking (PDF; p. 25) denied Static Control's proposed exemption ("The Register concludes that an existing exemption in section 1201(f) addresses the concerns of remanufacturers, making an exemption under section 1201(a)(1)(D) unnecessary"), and the Register's Recommendation (PDF; pp. 182-83) notes the dispute between the parties about whether Static Control's conduct constitutes reverse engineering, resolved in Lexmark's favor by the trial court, but does not weigh in on the outcome of that dispute. Media statements that the Rulemaking puts "a stunning end" to the case between Lexmark and Static Control, or constitutes a favorable ruling at all for Static Control—which lost its bid for an exemption—thus fail to reflect a thorough or accurate analysis of the Rulemaking and the pending Sixth Circuit appeal. (See internetnews.com, "Copyright Office Rules For Toner Remanufacturer," and similar takes included here.)

"Pushers Of Dopamine Over IP"

The presentation last week by Yossi Vardi and Jim Moore to the Digital Democracy class at Harvard Law School, "The Edge Against the Hub," is worth revisiting again and again. John Palfrey took good notes: "The struggle is over the openness of the technology: on the legal fronts, the struggles are over ownership of intellectual property, spectrum, VoIP; on the technical fronts, on standards, architecture, APIs, morality of free v. paid, etc." The audio is fantastic freeway company—especially if you, like me, enjoy picking out John's laughter from the audience. (Rick, definitely include this in your article research.)

Today's New Blawg

The Texas Law Blog is keeping an eye on law and politics in the Lone Star State and beyond: "The Texas Law Blog monitors the United States Supreme Court, 5th Circuit, Texas Supreme Court, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the various Courts of Appeals, the Texas Legislature, major Texas newspapers and legal websites."