Susan Crawford on Nimmer

At a Grokster forum this afternoon (graciously hosted by GW), the power of the Nimmer copyright treatise was on display. There is really no caselaw on contributory copyright liability for "inducement." In 1911, Justice Holmes said that "the most innocent objects may be used for unlawful purposes." But the case in which he said this wasn't about inducement -- it was about direct infringement. Since then courts really haven't discussed "inducement" in the copyright context, except as part of boilerplate lists.

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