Claiming that copyright warnings are "misleading consumers," the Computer & Communications Industry Association - a trade organization whose more prominent members include Microsoft and Google - filed a formal complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission yesterday. Targeted by the complaint were the two premiere sports leagues, two movie producers, and two book publishers.

The group's claim is that everyday users may be intimidated by the tone of these groups' copyright warnings, to such an extent that their rights to use the material they produce, as protected by US law, is infringed. But the CCIA's language rises even higher than that, accusing the subjects of the complaint with "a nationwide pattern of unfair and deceptive trade practices by misrepresenting consumer rights under copyright law."

The subjects of yesterday's FTC complaint are: the National Football League and Major League Baseball; NBC Universal and DreamWorks (now a unit of the Paramount Pictures division of Viacom); and Harcourt and Penguin publishers.

A CCIA statement quotes its president and CEO, Ed Black, as having told a gathering of the National Press Club, "Every one of us has seen or heard that copyright warning at the beginning of a sports game, DVD or book. These corporations use these warnings not to educate their consumers, but to intimidate them. Such tactics represent an assault on free expression and force consumers to continually forgo lawful activities to which they are entitled under federal law and the Constitution."

The complaint is likely the opening volley in what could turn out to be a series of legal actions taken by the computer industry against all manners of content producers. Evidence of this appears on the CCIA's new consumer advocacy Web site, DefendFairUse.org.

Seeking public comments in order to gather evidence of public intimidation, the site reads, "We will gather all comments into a complete record, submit them to the Commission and demand action on behalf of everyone who ever bought something with an exaggerated copyright notice. Tell the Federal Trade Commission to make Big Content come clean. We filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in which we asked the governments foremost enforcer of consumer rights to stop big media from making these ridiculous claims. Now, we want you to add your voice."

Though the parties named in the complaint have yet to issue a formal response, the Web site took the liberty of characterizing one anyway.

"Their answer? Threats and exaggerations that misrepresent your rights," the site's front page reads. "Your rights include the right to make Fair Use. But some of the Big Content companies don't like the idea that the law limits their control over how you use what you've legally acquired. These companies know that, by law, anyone can quote, excerpt and even copy their works for things like journalism, homework and research and discussion of all sorts."

Last February, NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker went public with his views that Google's YouTube had not done enough to implement copyrighted material filtering provisions. Since the previous June, the two companies had been in discussions to try to resolve the issue of who is responsible for protecting copyrighted material from illegal distribution. The breakdown of those discussions ended a promotional agreement between the companies.

Meanwhile, whether the CCIA speaks for Microsoft in this dispute against NBC Universal is more puzzling. One of Microsoft's DRM platforms is instrumental in NBCU's current "VIP Access" online download service. Universal has been a staunch and steadfast supporter of the HD DVD high-definition videodisc format, to the extent that Microsoft continues to refer to the studio for insight and commentary when defending HD DVD against Blu-ray. And the two corporations continue to be partners in MSNBC.com, although Microsoft maintains its option to sell the remainder of its 18% stake in the Web site this year - Microsoft already relinquished its stake in MSNBC television.

While none of the accused have issued statements, the Copyright Alliance this morning did issue a defense on their behalf.

Executive Director Patrick Ross stated, "If the CCIA is concerned about fair use, this is an odd way of showing it. They are faulting copyright owners who take the time and effort to caution users on the fact that the works are copyrighted. If CCIA were to succeed in requiring copyright owners to affirmatively delineate a fair use legal strategy with every warning - in essence act as the user's defense attorney - wouldn't many owners simply forego the caution and instead move straight into legal action? Apparently the CCIA wants more civil copyright infringement suits to be filed."

Ross went much further, proffering his theory that the CCIA may actually be conspiring to degrade current fair use law, by trying to set a legal precedent whereby content owners establish what's fair use and what's not through court rulings - rather than individual content users.

"An advantage of fair use is that the user can decide whether their use seems to be 'fair' under Sec. 107 of the Copyright Act and subsequent court actions," Ross writes, "and if challenged he or she can defend that belief in court. CCIA, however, seems to prefer that copyright owners decide what is fair use and then inform potential users of what is in and out of bounds. I suspect most individuals would prefer to make their own determinations and take their chances in court if necessary."