First, the sentence "Meaning, in response to RL's post, that copying isn't necessarily technically legal if it falls under the protection of the uair use doctrine" should be "Meaning, in response to RL's post, that copying isn't necessarily technically *illegal* if it falls under the protection of the *fair* use doctrine." I have been training myself to use the Dvorak keyboard layout, which has unfortunately increased my incidence of weird typos.

Preliminarily, I would say that even though I'm a lawyer I'm not providing any legal advice. These are just personal observations. That said, reread the judge's comment's that you posted (you being Dr. Dave). "Legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers"--meaning fair use by you, the consumer--"is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions."--that is, the manufacturer's violation of sect. 1201 through the dissemination or trafficking of software. Section 1201 specifically preserves your defense of fair use (as well as other defenses, for that matter).

If you have a source that shows the orders or judges' comments in more detail, I'll be happy to take a look at them. I didn't see the specific quote you provided in the linked article.

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The same thing we do every night, Pinky...