Tabberone's Hall of Shame - Software & Information Industry Association Piracy

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Software & Information Industry Association
Hall Of Shame Member
Added August 1, 2008
the principle trade association for the
software and digital content industry
not having principles themselves

On their "piracy" page, The Software & Information Industry Association, makes a number of unsupported and in our opinion, deliberately false and misleading statements (can you say, "they are lying"?) Click here to view their entire Piracy" page at http://www.siia.net/piracy/whatis.asp.
Under Introduction, SIIA falsely claims:
All software comes with a license agreement that specifically states the terms and conditions under which the software may be legally used.
This is not true. Many comapnies make false claims of "license" terms that are not allowed under federal law. For example, it is perfectly legal to decide you no longer want the software, remove it from your computer, and the sell the software package. They say it isn't.
Under Types of Software Piracy, SIIA does not specifically state that re-selling unopened, unused originial software is "piracy". However, that is the type of eBay auction that SIIA shut down! Why? Because they can and they do. Cuts down on the amount of thought required of the resident minimum-wage idiots hired to troll the internet.
Under the Introduction to The Content Infringement Problem , SIIA falsely claims:
While "content" theoretically could refer to anything that customers read, watch, or listen to - such as films, sound recordings (i.e., music), software, electronic publications, databases - here, the term refers to published text (protected under the Copyright Act as "literary works") or information such as databases.
"Content" is not automatically protected. Many companies claim that "published text" includes descriptions of an item and/or technical specifications on a web site or package. Wrong! These items are denied copyright protection under copyright law but that doesn't stop companies from using them to interfere with legitimate auctions. A database created by you using their software belongs to you.
Under Content Compliance and the First Sale Doctrine, SIIA tells the B:
Significantly though, if the content is obtained through a license - as is the case for most electronic content -- the first sale doctrine does not apply because the user does not own a copy of the work, he only has access to it through the license.
The Big Lie as we like to call it. Spread around like manure by the software companies and their lackies. However, most federal courts have agreed that software is not licensed but it is "slod", therefore, the so-called End User License Agreements ("EULA") cannot set restrictions beyond those allowed by federal law. So why do they tell the Big Lie? because they can. There are no civil penalties for companies lying to you about trademark and copyright. It's that simple. They do it because they know if they say it often enough, most of the people will believe them. Lying with a purpose. That purpose is to deceive you into compliance with their unlawful rules.
Under E-mail underTypes of Content Infringements, SIIA falsely claims:
Any e-mail you receive from another person is their copyrighted work, so forwarding it to someone else or printing it without the author's permission technically violates the author's exclusive rights.
Minor lie but still a lie. They try to create the impression all emails are automatically copyrighted. Again, technically true but not legally true. Unsolicited emails, as well as those with a privacy agreement, can be published, especially in a non-commercial informative manner. For an email to be confidential there has to be agreemnt from both parties.
Most of the content on the "piracy page" is accurate. There are enough exceptions to wonder how a company can get so much correct and still tell the lies that it does. Oh? That's right! It's the paycheck they get from the companies for terminating perfectly legitimate eBay sales. Dang! Why didn't we think of that? These con artists certainly did.

Federal Court Cases
Alphabetically | by Federal Circuit | by Subject | by Court Quotations

Federal Statutes
Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 5 | Digital Millenium Copyright Act 17 U.S.C. 12 | Lanham Act 15 U.S.C. 22
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