And that's what makes this case so important and interesting--once you purchase a hunk of media, is it or is it not yours to do with as you legally please? I fear, however, that we won't learn the answer from this trial. I suspect that one reason we continue to see cases that focus on narrow issues such as whether Company X breached License Y is that no one really wants a final judgment on Fair Use versus the DMCA. There's a lot at stake.

If Fair Use triumphs, the media companies fear they'll go out of business because their wares will be pirated from one end of the world to the other. And if the DMCA wins the day, the Fair Use crowd believes they'll be ground under The Man's heel.

Will one San Francisco judge be willing to dip a toe in this legal morass?

In the case of it's happened before. I, for one, hope to see it happen again. My archived copy of depends on it.