New Fair Use Bill Introduced in Congress
-- Library Journal, 3/7/2007
Congressional Rep. (and 2006 LJ Politician of the Year) Rick Boucher (D-VA), along with John Doolittle (R-CA) and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), last week introduced the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007 (FAIR USE Act), legislation designed to protect the fair use rights of users for consumers of digital media. The bill, which would also would give libraries the explicit right to circumvent technological protections for the purpose of preservation of works in a library's collection, is the second attempt to enact legislation on behalf of the rights of users. Boucher, who has been an outspoken critic of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), said he was determined to see sweeping provisions of that legislation—passed with the heavy support of motion picture studios, the recording industry, and publishers—redressed. "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use," Boucher argued.
Among its aims, the legislation proposes to codify specific exemptions to section 1201 of the DMCA, which prohibits breaking encryption to access content, even if for uses qualified as fair use, including the six exemptions recently approved by the Librarian of Congress that allow consumers to "circumvent" digital locks in six areas. The bill also would limit statutory damages against individuals and firms who may be found to have engaged in "contributory infringement, inducement of infringement, vicarious liability or other indirect infringement."
