http://www.charlotte.com/click/wiretech/pub/039334.htm
U.S. House panel
approves Internet
copyright protections
By HEATHER FLEMING
Bloomberg News
Washington -- The U.S. House Commerce
Committee unanimously approved
legislation designed to protect books,
music, computer software, and other
copyrighted works from Internet pirates,
pushing the measure closer to becoming
law.
``Action today by the House Commerce
Committee is critical to the industry's
ongoing battle to combat piracy in the
digital age,'' said Robert Holleyman,
president of the Business Software
Alliance. The legislation is ``an anti-crime
bill that establishes uniform standards for
online copyright laws and levels the playing
field for those who merchandise in the
digital marketplace,'' he said.
Entertainment companies such as Time
Warner Inc., software developers such as
Microsoft Corp., and book publishers
would benefit from the legislation as the
popularity of electronic commerce takes
off, and online pirates proliferate. The bill
would also shield telephone companies,
such as BellSouth Corp., and online
service providers, such as America Online
Inc., from liability in certain circumstances
when a customer illegally transmits or
posts copyrighted works on a network.
The House committee approved the
legislation after the Hollywood creative
community, electronic equipment
manufacturers, and representatives of
schools and libraries struck a compromise
on whether schools and libraries would be
able to make copies of digital copyrighted
works for educational and other legitimate
purposes, just as they are allowed to do
today. This side-issue held up the bill for
weeks, even though the bulk of the
legislative issues involved had been
thrashed out earlier.
The Senate approved similar legislation in
May. Once the House passes its version of
the bill, the Senate and House measures
will need to be reconciled before being sent
to President Bill Clinton for his signature.
``This is perhaps the most important
piece of legislation relating to electronic
commerce that this Congress will
consider,'' said House Commerce
Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley, a
Virginia Republican.
The legislation marks a compromise
involving the telephone industry, online
service providers, and the Hollywood
creative community. The competing
intersts had been haggling for more than a
year over the issue of when, and under
what circumstances, a company would be
liable for copyright infringement.
The bill would implement 1996 World
Intellectual Property Organization treaties
extending copyright laws to materials
online, and other copyright law changes.
Other countries have been waiting for the
U.S. to act on the WIPO treaty before
taking steps to implement the agreement.
The House panel initially planned to vote
on the measure Thursday morning. The
meeting was delayed twice, and finally
postponed until Friday as negotiations
continued over the copying of digital
copyrighted works for educational and
other legitimate purposes.
The American Library Association raised
concerns that language in the bill
preventing the use or manufacture of
devices to break the electronic wrapping
used to protect copyrighted materials
could gut the existing ``fair use'' principal
in copyright law. Copyright holders, on the
other hand, said the law includes special
protections to ensure that libraries and
other such institutions can continue to
obtain and provide access to copyrighted
works.
In the end, the panel adopted an
amendment directing the Secretary of
Commerce to issue regulations after two
years to prohibit the circumvention of
these technological copyright protections.
In the two-year time period, the Secretary
of Commerce will conduct a rule making
proceeding, soliciting comments on
whether users of copyrighted works have
been or are likely to be ``adversely
affected'' by putting the technological
protections measure in place. If the
Secretary of Commerce decides the
measure could limit access to copyrighted
works, he'll issue a waiver for certain
classes of copyrighted works.
Suzanne Stephens, Stephens Design; Ashland, Oregon
541-552-1192 http://www.KickassDesign.com/
CyberCircus Grand Prize Winners http://www.thecybercircus.com/
Web Page Design for Designers Design Resources: http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdres.htm
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