Re: [xml-dev] XML Conference archives

[John Cowan <cowan@mercury.ccil.org>]

Len Bullard scripsit:

> The reasoning for that decision is of interest.  Was it based on lack
> of provability or traceability of the resources or the timestamp?
> This might be a precedent for other copyright claims.

Quoth Wikipedia:

# In an October 2004 case called "Telewizja Polska SA v. Echostar
# Satellite", a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as
# a source of admissible evidence, perhaps for the first time. Telewizja
# Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish
# Network. Prior to the trial proceedings, EchoStar indicated that
# it intended to offer Wayback Machine snapshots as proof of the past
# content of Telewizja Polska’s website. Telewizja Polska brought a
# motion in limine to suppress the snapshots on the grounds of hearsay
# and unauthenticated source, but Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys rejected
# Telewizja Polska’s assertion of hearsay and denied TVP's motion in
# limine to exclude the evidence at trial.[14] However, at the actual
# trial, district Court Judge Ronald Guzman, the trial judge, overruled
# Magistrate Keys' findings, and held that neither the affidavit of the
# Internet Archive employee nor the underlying pages (i.e., the Telewizja
# Polska website) were admissible as evidence. Judge Guzman reasoned
# that the employee's affidavit contained both hearsay and inconclusive
# supporting statements, and the purported webpage printouts themselves
# were not self-authenticating.

Citation to http://tinyurl.com/84ldxbl (PDF), which I have not read.

-- 
Dream projects long deferred             John Cowan <cowan@ccil.org>
usually bite the wax tadpole.            http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        --James Lileks