I have a strange obsession with technology law and I thought a few developments this week were worth a post.

This week there have been two huge news stories related to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). This copyright revision adopted in 1998 famously outlawed some very controversial things including ANY cracking of DRM (the stuff that stops you from copying DVDs, old iTunes songs, eBooks, etc.). This week, it seems that the DMCA may not be all that bad, but interpretations of the law have been.

First, the Library of Congress allowed iPhone jail-breaking, DVD ripping for short clips, and eBook cracking for text to speech. All three of these were previously considered DMCA violations, now overridden by the LoC.

Second, and maybe even overshadowing to the last story, fair use finally got some legal precedent in a big way. The Fifth Circuit court gave a very fresh interpretation,

“Merely bypassing a technological protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision. The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners.”

So, does this make DVD ripping and such legal? Well, no, and I’m not a lawyer so don’t plan on using this post when the cyber police come knocking on your door. What is does make clear is that fair use, which is generally agreed to meaning copying for personal, non-commercial use, supersedes the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provision (§ 1201(a)).

No telling whether this will be overturned in an appeal, but it could change a lot about copyright…