[free-sklyarov] Wretched article at inside.com

[Jeanne A. E. DeVoto]

At 5:45 PM -0700 8/4/2001, Jon O . wrote:
>Also, bear in mind the DMCA came from a treaty with the WIPO. I think someone
>mentioned this, but just to toss it out again, doesn't this treaty overrule
>our national laws.

No. In US law, the Constitution has supremacy over treaties (more
precisely, over the enabling law that implements a treaty). Treaty
agreements do not override the Constitution.

Of course, there's always the question of how the SC will interpret the
intersection of the Constitution and a treaty, but it's perfectly possible,
in law, for the SC to rule the DMCA or a section of it unconstitutional,
treaty or no treaty. Reconciling the treaty with the Constitution is
Congress's problem.

--
jeanne a. e. devoto ~ jaed at jaedworks.com
http://www.jaedworks.com