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08.11.05
Online Copyright Form May
Start As IE Only
 By
David Utter
First they appoint a pro-Microsoft lawyer to be the new ambassador to the European
Union; now our government may make IE the way to complete a copyright preregistration
form.
Over and over again, we find that real life is much stranger than anything we
could imagine.
Are the Copyright office's practices monopolistic or fully justified?
Voice your opinion at WebProWorld.
But it is. Today, it was disclosed on WebmasterWorld that the Copyright
office is requesting comments regarding any potential issues with requiring
Internet Explorer to fill out a certain form.
The Federal Register of the Library of Congress has posted the issue online. From
the summary:
"Today's notice seeks information as to whether persons filing
the electronic-only preregistration form prescribed by the Copyright Office will
experience difficulties if it is necessary to use Microsoft's Internet Explorer
web browser in order to preregister a work."
The Copyright office has been working on the pre-registration issue due to the
passage of the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, which contains the ART
Act that was used to charge a 19 year-old Missouri man with pirating movies by
camcording them in a theater.
It appears the Copyright office has been developing a new system for preregistering
claims online, but their developers may not have had cross-browser compatibility
in mind while working on the project:
"(I)t is not entirely clear whether the system will be compatible
with web browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 5.1 and higher.
Filers of preregistration applications will be able to employ these Internet Explorer
browsers successfully. Support for Netscape 7.2, Firefox 1.0.3, and Mozilla 1.7.7
is planned but will not be available when preregistration goes into effect. Present
users of these browsers may experience problems when filing claims."
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. |
