3GPP TSG-T2 SWG3 SMS / EMS ad hoc #1
London, UK
3rd to 5th April 2001	T2E-010022	

Agenda Item:	

Source:	Nokia/Motorola

Title:	

Document for:	Object Protection

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3GPP TSG-T2 #12
Los Angeles, California, USA
12th - 16th February 2001	T2-010274 	

Agenda Item:	Copyright Protection for SMS

Source:	Motorola

Title:	Legal aspects of SMS copyright protection

Document for:	Discussion and decision

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Motorola recommends that the Alcatel proposal to add a copyright protection flag in SMS messages is abandoned for the following legal reasons. 

1.	Providing the ability to flag material as copyrighted, puts the user, operator and manufacture on notice that the device is capable of transmitting copyrighted material.  This notice would effectively create an obligation on the operator and/or manufacturer to deal with the ownership issues.  The operator would effectively be in the position that Napster is in today with respect to MP3 music distribution.  

2.	There is no way for the operator or manufacturer to effectively deal with the copyright issue.  A copyright owner has many different options in handling the distribution of his/her material.   For example, a copyright owner may wish to:

a.	freely disseminate his material to all interested parties.	
b.	not distribute his material at all.
c.	limit distribution to unlimited use by one individual or several individuals, but not all individuals.

There are other, more effective, ways for the control of distribution of copyrighted materials.  For example, encrypting a file such that it only operates on a single device (as used in MP3 players)  or encrypting a file so that it can only be used a certain number of times before it is destroyed.  

Another example can be seen the with Palm Pilot PDAs. These devices allow for the distribution of files.  Some files are freely distributed while others require registration with the copyright owner before they work on the device. 

Motorola strongly recommends that methods, such as those described in the above examples, are employed by content providers, operators and equipment manufactures to distribute and handle copyrighted content.