Conn. Ruling Should ‘Dissuade’ Future DMCA Circumventions: FSF

The Sept. 30 decision in U.S. District Court for Connecticut “provided a solid interpretation” of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for “protecting against unauthorized access to valuable copyrighted movies, TV shows, music, and ebooks,” wrote Seth Cooper, Free State Foundation director-policy studies and a senior FSF fellow, in an analysis Monday. In Yout v. Recording Industry Association of America (docket 3:20-cv-01602), U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in New Haven held in his ruling that the DMCA “prohibits the circumvention of technical measures used by an online platform that restrain access to copyrighted content by ordinary consumers using that platform in the ordinary course of operation,” said Cooper. Underhill’s “careful reasoning” in Yout v. RIAA about the “capacious meaning of key terms” in the DMCA’s Section 1201 “should be viewed as persuasive authority by courts in future court cases involving the anti-circumvention rights of copyright owners,” he said. “Indeed, the court ruling hopefully will dissuade other online edge service companies from designing and marketing technologies intended to circumvent restrictions on access to copyrighted content.” Yout will appeal Underhill’s granting of RIAA’s motion to dismiss to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, it said in an Oct. 20 notice (see 2210240004).