Last Friday, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) crossed swords with Apple over making jailbreaking iPhone legitimate.
In February, Apple had informed the U.S Copyright Office that it believed jailbreaking an iPhone is a violation of the DMCA and infringes
on its copyright. In my earlier article, I had covered how EFF had filed an exemption request with the U.S. Copyright Office to the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) so users can jailbreak their iPhone without fear of copyright infringement
penalties and was also backed up by Mozilla, Cydia and even Skype.
A Ray of hope?
The US Copyright office had earlier exempted college professors who intend to compile movie clips for educational purpose, or allowed users to copy software (that had become obsolete over the year) on to new media. The most famous exemption was in 2006, when mobile users were allowed to switch carriers without changing their mobile devices.
Skype’s Stand:
It is interesting to note that Skype, which had earlier supported EFF hasn’t commented on their current stand. I guess that since Skype already has a ‘legitimate’ app on the iPhone, it couldn’t be bothered. Not to mention the fact that with its latest upgrade it did give a warning message stating that it does not support hacked iPhones.
Mozilla’s Stand:
It is still backing EFF for the obvious reason of being able to put its own browser over the iPhone. Since, they are pitched up against the safari browser, they will be looking at some unofficial approach.
Cydia’s Stand:
It is the unofficial version of the App Store that supports jailbreak apps. It currently has over 2 million devices using Cydia and the outcome of this case has a direct impact on it.
Apple’s Stand:
As expected, Apple tried its best to tilt the case in its favor. It has hired David Hayes, an intellectual property lawyer from Fenwick and West who has filed a 27 pager legal brief.
Apple’s argument revolved around the following:
- Jailbreaking is a copyright infringement.
- It causes potential damage to the device and other potential harmful physical effects.
- It has an adverse effects on the functioning of the device, and that Apple could end up with angry customer calls.
- Opening the platform could mean taking a direct hit on its revenue as non-approved apps would be sold outside the iTunes.
- It could also give rise to unlawful activities, such as unrestricted porn material, other copyright infringements such as movies, games as the content will not longer require any approval from the iTune store.
EFF’s stand:
According to EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann:
EFF also counter attacked by stating that an exemption will open the pathway for third party app development, which in itself is a non-infringing activity that DMCA authorizes.
If EFF succeeds in getting an exemption then it will naturally be a huge leap towards legalizing jailbroken iPhones.
The EFF official website quotes two interesting analogies:
Von Lohmann said, “It is my automobile at the end of the day,” a
reference that iPhone once owned by the user becomes the users
property, just like after I own a car, I am free to do pretty much
anything with it.
What was the outcome?
The U.S copyright office holds such hearings every 3 years, and given the current state of affairs, it could mean that we will have the same argument continuing till 2012.
None of the authorities from the U.S Copyright Office gave any indication as to which argument they supported. Nevertheless, a decision is expected around October this year and that’s when the cat will come out the bag.
What’s your take on the issue, do you think Apple is justified or that EFF has a strong case? Have your say in our comments section below.
[via Wired]
