What is Hatch's Hit List? Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) has introduced the Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act (IICA, née INDUCE Act) in the Senate. The bill would make it illegal to "intentionally induce" copyright infringement, but is worded so broadly that it would have all sorts of unintended consequences, one of which is to severely limit, cripple or kill innovation in many different fields. Hatch's Hit List is a daily exploration of some of the technologies and fields that the bill would likely affect. See also, Introducing Hatch's Hit List and the Hatch's Hit List Archives. Send list suggestions to ernest.miller 8T aya.yale.edu.

Today on Hatch's Hit List: Instapundit

News flash: Sen. John Kerry is running for president. Shortly after he returned from military service in Vietnam he co-authored a book called The New Soldier. However, the book is out of print and, reportedly, Kerry won't allow a new edition to be published to take advantage of all the interest in the book raised by his candidacy.

Nevertheless, someone has put the book online, in clear violation of the copyright: John Kerry's New Soldier

Just after JOHN KERRY came back from Vietnam, he wrote the book THE NEW SOLDIER.

The book is out of print. John Kerry does not allow the publisher to reprint it.

To make a rational decision on November 2, you need to have all available facts.

You can now read John Kerry's THE NEW SOLDIER online for FREE.

I blame Glenn Reynolds, aka Instapundit. He is the one who induced me to visit the infringing site through a link of his: There Was Lots of Talk. I probably never would have visited and infringed copyright had it not been for Reynolds' link.

He is a law professor familiar with copyright law, so he should know better, but it turns out he is not a fan of current copyright law. Among other actions and writings: he has hosted infamous anti-copyright law professor Larry Lessig as a guest-blogger; he has made outrageous claims that free downloads don't necessarily hurt copyright owners (RIAA Take Note); he has questioned the efforts of universities to protect copyright owners (Some Good Questions); and, he has said he is fine with a ridiculously short copyright term of fourteen years, renewable once (The Economist). Clearly, Reynolds is no fan of copyright.

Furthermore, he doesn't seem very enthusiastic about John Kerry (too many posts to mention).

Clearly, by linking to the infringing site, Reynolds was encouraging more copyright infringement. He knew what would happen when he pointed his massive traffic to the infringing site. His actions are a paradigmatic case of intentional inducement.

Want to know more about the INDUCE Act?
Please see LawMeme's well-organized index to everything I've written on the topic, including Hatch's Hit List: The LawMeme Reader's Guide to Ernie Miller's Guide to the INDUCE Act.