Copyright Office to Hold DMCA Hearings;
Two More Bills Seek Fair Use
The Library of Congress Copyright Office will hold a series of hearings in Washington, D.C., and California this spring to decide whether any changes should be made to provisions in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act that prohibit libraries and consumers from bypassing copy-protection locks in DVDs, CDs, and e-books. The hearing dates in Washington are scheduled for April 11, April 15, and May 2; dates and locations in California have not yet been set.
The American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association have already filed comments with the Copyright Office in December regarding fair-use exemptions from DMCA anticircumvention provisions. The Copyright Office turned down a request for a broader fair-use exemption in its 2000 rulemaking.
ALA Legislative Counsel Miriam Nisbet told American Libraries that she thought there was little likelihood that the Copyright Office would grant libraries a fair-use exemption after the hearings. “Consumers and the library community stand a better chance of regaining digital fair-use rights in Congress,” she said, “with two bills that are before the House again this year.”
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) reintroduced the Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act (H.R. 107) January 7, which allows copy-protection circumvention for fair-use or research purposes. On March 4, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) once again put forward legislation, now called the Balance Act of 2003 (H.R. 1066), that would allow consumers and other owners of digital media to make copies of music, movies, and books for their own use.
Posted March 24, 2003.
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