[OS:N:] Panel To Reopen Debate Over 'Fair Use,' Copyright Law

[Todd Warner <taw redhat com>]

For the life of me, I can't find the link to this. Anyway...


*Panel To Reopen Debate Over 'Fair Use,' Copyright Law*
by Sarah Lai Stirland <mailto:sstirland nationaljournal com>

     The question of whether the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 
<http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf> (DMCA) eliminated the 
legal principle of "fair use" of copyrighted materials has animated the 
debate among key players in Hollywood and the technology community ever 
since the law's enactment in 1998.

     Law experts, tech researchers and some tech industry officials 
argue that the DMCA effectively eliminated fair-use rights and gave the 
entertainment industry total control over how consumers use digital 
products, while the entertainment and content industries argue that the 
statute strikes an appropriate balance between fair use and intellectual 
property protection.

     On Wednesday, members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee 
on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection 
<http://energycommerce.house.gov/107/subcommittees/Commerce_Trade_and_Consumer_Protection.htm>
will revisit the issue when it considers a bill, H.R. 107 
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.00107:>, that the 
sponsors say aims to restore fair-use rights.
     
     Specifically, the bill would make entertainment companies label 
compact discs and digital videodiscs that include technology to protect 
content. The measure also would exempt scientists from prosecution under 
DMCA language that makes it illegal to circumvent such technologies if 
they are cracking the code to do research, and anyone could bypass 
copy-protection mechanisms if they are doing so to copy content in ways 
that do not violate digital copyright law.

     Tech enthusiasts have complained that the anti-circumvention 
provisions prevent them from making back-up copies of software, 
videogames and other digital content. "If someone buys a DVD at a store 
and you want to bypass the advertisements and you knew how to do this 
[technically], you would be allowed to do it," bill sponsor *Rick 
Boucher* D-Va., said of his legislation. "But if you do it under current 
law, it's a federal crime."

     The content industries have tried to cast the debate in terms of 
intellectual property protection. But Boucher said his bill would do 
nothing to change the current penalties for digital piracy and instead 
would only restore consumers' fair-use rights.

     His bill is supported by technology giants like Intel, industry 
trade groups like the Consumer Electronics Association 
<http://www.ce.org/> (CEA), library associations, digital-rights groups, 
high-speed Internet providers like SBC Communications and Verizon 
Communications, and smaller players like 321 Studios, which makes 
popular DVD-copying software for consumers.

     Software makers represented by the Business Software Alliance 
<http://www.bsa.org/> oppose the measure. "We think Congress found the 
right balance in '98," alliance counsel *Emery Simon* said.

     But *Michael Petricone*, CEA's vice president of technology policy, 
said the problem with the DMCA is that it focuses on the technology 
itself rather than the crime of piracy.

     Noting the Supreme Court <http://www.supremecourtus.gov/> decision 
20 years ago in /Universal Studios v. Sony Betamax/, which reaffirmed 
consumers' rights to tape home movies on videocassette recorders, 
Petricone added that movie companies have benefited from technology. He 
said the /Betamax/ ruling enabled the birth of other consumer-friendly 
electronic entertainment products.

     "Hollywood now makes more money on recorded content than on 
box-office releases," he said, "so you would have thought they learned 
the lesson, but they haven't."