This is good news
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080306-rep-berman-pulls-controversial-compilations-rule-from-pro-ip-act.htmlThe PRO-IP Act was designed to "strengthen" US intellectual property protections, but opponents of the bill have referred to it as "gluttonous" and overreaching. One of the most controversial bits of the bill was a provision to stop treating compilations of copyrighted works as a single work. This change would mean, for instance, that a music label could seek 10 or 12 times the allowed statutory damages when it prosecutes someone who sells a single copy of an album. For magazines and newspapers which contain a host of separate copyrighted pieces (articles, advertising, etc.), the effects could be even more dire, since a single lost copyright lawsuit could put publishers on the hook for millions and millions of dollars in fines. Today, a House subcommittee removed the controversial provision from the Bill and passed it on to the full committee for further comment.
William Patry, Google's top copyright counsel and the man who literally wrote the book on the subject, said that the compilation change made him "very happy." Public Knowledge head Gigi Sohn, who testified to Congress about the bill's shortcomings late last year, also said in a statement that she was "pleased that the Subcommittee deleted from the bill the section (Section 104) that would have allowed multiplied damages for infringement of a compilation far beyond any reasonable levels."
I am please this poorly proposed law is being amended, not only was this act it likely to bend the law way beyond the scale of intended penalty but in effect it placed a falsely high value on big media companies music. What irks me is that some of those on the committee crafting this bill have a paid sponsor who in effect is paying them to ask for draconian anti-consumer legislation, such people should retire from the committee citing "conflict of interest", in the eyes of many we are seeing corruption at its best.
