Apple Makes DMCA Claims
I should probably be enjoying the holidays with family, but how much turkey and annoying relatives can one person take honestly?
Ran across this article about Apple sending a DMCA threat to a website dedicated to cracking the iTunes Database of songs used in iPods to allow people to use programs other than iTunes to sync their ipods. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/11/apple-confuses-speech-dmca-violation
Thought this was relevant for two reasons.
First, the EFF, who posted the article claims that there is no claim because the database is not copyrightable- it is a database listing of the songs on your ipod. The website is definitely trying to get around a technological security measure, without a doubt. I’m a bit fuzzy - does the work underneath HAVE to be copyrightable for DMCA protection? I wonder if Apple could somehow claim their unique layout of the data would be copyrightable?
Second, I think this gets back to the larger societal/policy issue we keep coming back to, analogous to the DeCSS issue. If people are using this to simply get to music they bought and want to use with their own syncing software - isn’t it a legitimate use? No one is trying to infringe the music DRM, just use a different program to sync. Apple probably tries to cover this somehow in the contract with iTunes, and when you first “install” your iPod to your computer I’m sure there is a click agreement.
November 27th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Well, I am watching Texas thrash the Aggies (and thus bored as well) — interesting issue here are my thoughts:
(1) The underlying work, behind the access or use control, has to be a “work protected under this title” — which means a work protected by copyright law. I am sure Apple would claim the compilation is protectable. Also, while I am not totally familiar with the technology, could the underlying work be the songs themselves (which are completely protectable). If it is the later, this shows even the bigger oddness of the DMCA where one company (Apple) enforces DMCA rights to protect another which actually owns the copyright (Recording company or movie company, etc.).
(2) You second point is a good one — is this “without authority of the copyright owner” — I say look at your EULA.