When Mickey Mouse Goes Public

2002 B.C. Intell. Prop. & Tech. F. 111401
DMCA and Key2Audio

by Sheila Lee Bautista, Staff Writer

In 2001, Sony launched Key2Audio, a copyright protection system aimed to combat music piracy. Key2Audio reported that as of January 2002, its technology had been applied to 10 million discs and sold to 50 customers within the music industry and applied to prominent artists’ works such as Celine Dion’s “A New Day Has Come” and *NSync’s “Celebrity.”

To prevent music listeners from copying CDs or converting tracks to MP3 files, Key2Audio technology does not allow consumers to play Key2Audio protected CDs on PCs. Users are limited to playing protected CDs in CD audio players, portable players, car stereos, DVD players, or video game players. In January 2002, Sony introduced Key2Audio4PC technology that allows users with Key2Audio protected CDs to play compact discs on PCs. Though Key2Audio4PC allows users to download tracks off of Key2Audio protected CDs onto their personal computers and burn copies onto a recordable CD, a digital code prevents the burned copy from being played on any PCs other than the one on which it was recorded. Furthermore, if another user receives a copy of something burned off of a Key2Audio protected CD, the second user will not able to play the copy without the digital code encrypted on the original CD. Even if the second user unlocks the digital code, a server can recognize that the music files have been issued to the original user and will prevent the second user from being able to listen to the copies.

However, the public took little time to discover a way around Key2Audio technology. Not long after Key2Audio CDs were released, one music listener discovered that users could circumvent the protection technology by drawing over the edge of CDs with a black felt tip pen.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed in 1998, could have implications on Key2Audio protection technology. The DMCA prohibits any person from circumventing a technological measure designed to protect a copyrighted work and also prohibits the manufacture, import, or trafficking of technology primarily designed to circumvent technology that protects a copyrighted work. The act contains provisions for both civil remedies and criminal liabilities. Maximum criminal penalties for violating the statute include a $500,000 fine and five years in jail for the first offense and $1,000,000 fine and ten years in jail for subsequent offenses. To date, Key2Audio has not filed any lawsuits under the DMCA against parties who have tried to circumvent its protection technology, and luckily, few would argue that black felt tip pens are “primarily designed” to circumvent Key2Audio’s encryption protection. It might be within the consumer’s interest to find a way to decrypt Key2Audio codes. However, given the stringent language and limited uses of decryption technology that the DMCA allows, such as decryption for educational and research purposes, such circumvention efforts on the part of music listeners that do not even entail piracy, the main target of encryption technology, run the risk of incurring the stiff penalties of the DMCA.