Retailers Swing DMCA To Stop "Black Friday" Sale Info

FatWallet.com ^ | 20 November 2002 | FatWallet.com

[steve-b]

We have been given DMCA notices regarding the posting of "Black Friday" sale prices from the following companies:

Wal*Mart
Target
Best Buy
Staples

While we believe that sale prices are facts and can not be copyrighted, We have made the business decision to comply with the dmca notifications.

[steve-b]

The abuse of copyright law has gotten so out of hand that retailers are using it to prevent the publication of their prices in a comparison list. It sounds like something from The Onion, but it's for real.

[JoJo Gunn]

This is insanity. How can you copyright changing numbers? Oh well, sometimes I can see how Big Business gives Leftists their fodder.

[shadowman99]

This isn't even leftist fodder. This is about the shrinking of Freedom of Information. This is about your rights as a consummer, in a capitalist society, to seek out the lowest price on goods. This is about highly paid lawyers abusing the little guy.

[steve-b]

Oh well, sometimes I can see how Big Business gives Leftists their fodder.

While the Republicans are trying to tie the Democrats to the ambulance-chasers who create these problems (in this case, SLAPP lawsuits), I don't think they're getting the message out very effectively.

If they're smart, they'll fix (or, better, repeal) the DMCA. Played right, it would be a two-fer: a platform for trumpeting legal abuse in a situation Joe Lunchpail can easily understand and a slap at the leftist Hollywierd establishment (while preserving the studios' legitimate rights to protect themselves against counterfeit copies).

[JoJo Gunn]

You bring up something that nags at me (admittedly this isn't one of my "sharpest" days): What in the hell has posting prices got to do with the Gestapo of the RIAA and MPAA? Oh, my muddled instincts tell me it's tied in, knowing those thugs Valenti and Rosen. But have I missed something? A provision I didn't hear of? Also, to see those 4 names at once, it reeks of the stench of racketeering. 4 companies at once drop the hammer???

[JoJo Gunn]

By the way, at my local Wal-Mart they have hanging up at each register and around the food aisles the sale papers from the other stores as comparison, especially the local Mom and Pop grocery stores still trying to hang onto their heritage against the Behemoth. What of that? Is this insanity only a web based thing?

[steve-b]

What in the hell has posting prices got to do with the Gestapo of the RIAA and MPAA?

Hollyweird purchased an extremely broad law that effectively bans large chunks of what has traditionally been considered fair use. Other companies are exploiting the new law to reduce the impact of price competition.

[JoJo Gunn]

Obviously this angle hadn't dawned on me. I've focused on the Fair Use aspects. Hitlery Valenti and crew gets a percentage of the sale of every blank video or audio tape. Even if you tape nothing but your parakeet squawking, they get their pockets lined. When are we going to pull the plug on those Borg?

[ThinkDifferent]

What in the hell has posting prices got to do with the Gestapo of the RIAA and MPAA?

My understanding is that how the DMCA is being used in this case is separate from how the ??AA fascists use it. The DMCA has a clause which allows an alleged copyright holder to notify an ISP that material on their network infringes their copyright. The ISP must then immediately remove that material or jump through several legal hoops, not surprisingly most will choose the former (that "presumption of innocence" thing was just too inconvenient). It's essentially an invitation for entities with lots of lawyers to have anything they want removed; even if you're not infringing, you're not likely to have the resources for a legal fight.

[anymouse]

This is what I mean by abuse of intellectual property rights by the legal industry.

Read Slashdot.org for more examples of intellectual property rights abuse and other legal insanity.

[tracer]

If you mess with Wal-Mart, a little yellow smiley-face guy will wipe out your family and violate your pets....

[JoJo Gunn]

Shakespeare was right....

It's always been a sore point with me that most people could care less about these things, and those few like us are left to do the battles. Rarely do I buy any music, maybe 5 discs in the last 5 years, (and I'm no fan of Napster practices). The Hollyweird Gestapo continues to make honest people like me an enemy. Or I should say they continue to grow as a bigger Enemy of mine.

They don't make a nickel off the downloaders, yet they don't get the sweat off my youknowwhat either. You think they have enough brain cells to figure out where they stand?

[End The Hypocrisy]

Understood. Thanks for the clarification. Sometimes litigiousness goes beyond merely encouraging folks to avoid violence, and approaches sanction-worthy conduct.