Infringement Nation

John Tehranian, Professor of Law, University of Utah has just published a paper entitled Infringement Nation: Copyright Reform and the Law / Norm Gap.

The paper details the massive void between copyright norms (what people do) and copyright law in the United States. Fueled by some of the most unbalanced copyright laws in the world Teranian presents a shocking scenario. “To illustrate the unwitting infringement that has become quotidian for the average American, take a day in the life of a hypothetical law professor named John.

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By the end of the day John has committed eighty three acts of infringement and faces liability in the amount of $12.45 million (to say nothing of criminal charges). There is nothing particularly extraordinary about John’s activities. Yet if copyright holders were inclined to enforce their rights to the maximum extent allowed by law, barring last minute salvation through the notoriously ambiguous fair use defense, he would be liable for a mind boggling $4.544 billion in potential damages each year. And, surprisingly, he has not even committed a single act of infringement through P2P filesharing. Such an outcome flies in the face of our basic sense of justice.

With new Canadian legislation rumoured to be even more draconian than US legislation, including even fewer exceptions than American legislation the average Canadian can most likely look forward to a similar or even worse exposure to litigation.