Digital copyright law stifling innovation

WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- Digital copyright laws are hampering innovation, a Cato Institute paper found Tuesday.

According to analyst Tim Lee, the digital millennium copyright act of 1998 has "tied the courts' hands by outlawing all (digital) devices that tamper with copy protection technologies."

The primary beneficiaries of the act have been large technology companies such as Apple and TiVo that has used the legislation "to exclude competitors from building products compatible with their own." He also argued that the law has made it difficult for innovative new companies to compete effectively with entrenched incumbents.