Tim, I am happy you are more optimistic than I. I don't have enough data to know whether your generational theory works. I have always thought many younger people are more pessimistic than I. I would add to the mix case law, which has been mixed. Grokster, for example, was a terrible decision regardless of how one feels about the result. The Bridgeport sampling case that held there is no de minimis threshold for infringement of sound recordings is a disaster. The MAI v. Peak line of cases on RAM copying have been extremely harmful. The Ninth Circuit's decisions on divisibility, now joined by the Second Circuit are absurd. At the same time the CoStar decision and the requirement of a volitional act has been positive as have the caching and indexing cases, so I wouldn't say the case law has been as bad as the legislative record. But the globalization of the worst features of U.S. law through trade agreements should also concern us deeply.
In any event, we certainly need people who are optimistic now more than ever, and I am thrilled you are one of them. Bill
