The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) is asking for your help to tell the U.S. Copyright Office that jailbreaking does not violate the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), and its exemption should be continued and expanded.

In 2010, the Copyright Office said jailbreaking smartphones doesn’t violate the DMCA. This year, we’re asking them to renew that exemption (otherwise it will expire) and expand it to cover tablets. We’re also asking for a new exemption to allow jailbreaking of video game consoles.

The Library of Congress added the exception for jailbreak to the DMCA in July of 2010. Specifically:

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

However, jailbreak was declared as an exclusion from the DMCA, and protection wasn’t actually hard coded into the act. That means the declaration could ultimately expire and leave jailbreakers subject to legal penalties.

If you’d like to help ensure this never happens, the EFF has advised you submit your opinion in comment form to the Copyright Office, and even offer a submission template with comment suggestions for your convenience. Comments are due by February 10th at 5PM, so make sure you submit your comments soon!

Souce: EFF

The Court of the Hague, in the Netherlands, has denied an appeal from Apple to place an injunction on Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales on grounds of design patent infringement. The Dutch ruling took into account two out of six potential pieces of prior art, though they may take more into consideration later on. Apple has already been shot down once for this case in the Dutch lower courts, and having the appeal denied as well means this case is pretty cut and dry.

Apple’s having some good luck against Samsung in Germany, but that’s apparently not setting a precedent for the rest of Europe. It seems like globally, Apple is going to have a hard time enforcing these design patents, despite seeing varied success in a few regions. Even Australia, which had placed a ban on some Samsung products, eventually reversed its decision. Unless Apple manages to get consistent ruling internationally, it will be hard to avoid imports into the few countries that have a local sales ban on devices that look like the iPhone or iPad.

While I certainly appreciate Apple’s classy design, it seems a little extreme for a company whose founder openly borrowed good ideas and made them better. You can find the full Dutch court ruling, ripe for Google Translating, via the source link below.

Source: rechtpraak.nl, FOSS Patents

The New York Times (via TUAW) is reporting that the iPhone is literally causing mistrials now. Howsat?

It might be called a Google mistrial. The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges.

Others were, apparently, Twittering updates during trial, or looking up information in Wikipedia [citation needed...]

Sorry, smacked my head on the desk in utter disbelief of personal entitlement these days, one moment while I recover…

Is law once again failing to keep up with technology, or are humans — also once again — slipping further down the slope of irresponsibility? What say we?