Friday, July 12, 2002

News: Copyright bill may severely limit rights
Legislators are readying a bill that could sharply limit Americans' rights relating to copying music, taping TV shows, and transferring files through the Internet.

At the same time, the draft legislation seen by CNET News.com would place the struggling Webcasting industry on firmer legal footing.

Two key House legislators wrote the double-edged proposal in consultation with the Library of Congress' Copyright Office. They appear likely to introduce it this month.

Reps. Howard Coble of North Carolina and Howard Berman of California, who authored the draft, say their proposed changes to copyright law follow suggestions made last August by the Copyright Office.

"The Copyright Office recommended that Congress amend the Copyright Act," the two politicians wrote in a five-page letter sent last month to members of the subcommittee that oversees intellectual property. Coble is the Republican chairman of the panel, and Berman, who announced plans last month for an unrelated bill assailing peer-to-peer networks, is the senior Democrat.

The first part of their proposal, which would limit backup copies, has already drawn objections from academics and nonprofit groups that have reviewed it.

Under current copyright law, Americans who record a TV program or radio segment generally may "sell or otherwise dispose of" that analog recording or digital file as they wish.

The proposed bill would end that exemption, handing copyright owners substantial new control over the distribution of their works by curtailing copying rights granted to consumers under a doctrine known as "fair use."

"If you were to take today's episode of 'E.R.' and tape it and give it to your mother, it would be copyright infringement under this bill," said Jessica Litman, a professor at Wayne State University who specializes in copyright law.

A less incendiary section of the draft would give a minor boost to Webcasters by saying they're off the hook for temporary copies, called cached or buffered copies, made while streaming music to listeners. To qualify, a Webcaster must be licensed by an agency such as ASCAP and must ink an agreement with the record labels.

According to the draft bill, such Webcasting "is not an infringement of copyright"--if temporary copies are made only to facilitate music distribution and if the copies are stored only for a time that's necessary for the broadcast.

In an unusual twist, Coble and Berman stressed in their letter to colleagues that their authorship of the draft bill does not necessarily "constitute an endorsement of its contents." Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the top Democrat on the full Judiciary committee, also helped in the creation and included the same unusual disclaimer.

Last month, Berman said he would introduce a bill to let copyright owners, such as record labels or movie studios, launch technological attacks against file-swapping networks, where their wares are illegally traded. He plans to introduce it next week.

One impetus for the draft bill, which remains untitled, could be to derail a more comprehensive bill favored by Webcasters called the Music Online Competition Act. It's co-authored by Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who has vowed to oppose some of the more dramatic attempts by the music industry to tighten copyright laws.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-943153.html

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