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The House of Representatives passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (H.R. 2281) August 4, updating U.S. copyright laws for the digital age, including provisions approved by the House Commerce Committee July 17 to protect fair use by libraries and schools. However, ALA's Washington Office notes that the bill contains other intellectual-property legislation—including overbroad database-protection legislation strongly opposed by ALA and others.
While earlier versions of the bill forbid any circumvention of encryption devices, the final measure included an amendment delaying such a prohibition for two years while the Secretary of Commerce reviews the issue. The waiver could be renewed every two years for classes of works where technological safeguards were found to be harming fair use.
The legislation must be reconciled with the Senate version when Congress returns from its summer recess in September.
Posted August 10, 1998.
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