Saturday, February 17, 2007

NFL abuses Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The broadcast of the Super Bowl contained this announcement: "This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our audience. Any other use of this telecast or of any pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent, is prohibited."

Brooklyn Law School professor Wendy Seltzer, who founded the Chilling Effects clearinghouse of DMCA abuse, posted this piece of the Super Bowl broadcast as an example of a copyright holder exaggerating its rights--clearly the NFL does not own all pictures, descriptions, or accounts of the Super Bowl game.

The response--the NFL issued a DMCA takedown notice against her site for the posting, demonstrating that they not only exaggerate their rights, but are willing to abuse the law.

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