Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation in the 107th and 108th Congresses

Publication Date: January 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Law and ethics

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Abstract:

Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th and 108th Congresses. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital (and traditional) copyright infringement and educating the public about the rights of copyright holders.

Two of the bills introduced during the 107th Congress focusing on access were reintroduced in the 108th Congress. Representatives Boucher and Lofgren reintroduced their bills from the 107th Congress. They are H.R. 107, the "Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003" and H.R. 1066, respectively. H.R. 1066 is renamed the "Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2003." And Senator Wyden introduced S. 692, a labeling disclosure bill entitled the "Digital Consumers Right to Know Act."

S. 1621, the "Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Management Awareness Act of 2003," addresses several DRM issues. It would prohibit the Federal Communication Commission from establishing mandatory technology standards and require disclosure requirements for access controlled digital media and consumer electronics. It also addresses the subpoena process by which copyright owners acquire personal information about suspected infringers. And the "Family Movie Act of 2004," originally introduced as H.R. 4586 and subsequently incorporated into H.R. 4077, would amend the law to expressly authorize the inhome use of filtering technology designed to edit out sexual, violent, or profane content in movies available for consumers' home viewing.

Bills addressing piracy include H.R. 4077, the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004" which passed the House on September 28, 2004; S. 1932, the "Artists Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2004"; and, S. 2237, the "Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004." S. 1932 and S. 2237 passed the Senate. Because digital transmission poses the greatest distribution risk to entertainment content owners, these bills attempt to thwart the initial unauthorized copying and/or uploading to the Internet. Hence, sanctions for illegal distribution of pre-release commercial works and surreptitious recording of movies in theaters are emphasized. Many of these provisions, including the Family Movie Act of 2004, were reintroduced in S. 3021, which passed the Senate on November 20, 2004. On June 22, 2004, S. 2560, the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004" was introduced in the Senate. This bill would add a new section to the Copyright Act defining intentional inducement of copyright infringement as an express form of statutory infringement.

Although this report will not be updated, many of these issues are likely to be revisited during the 109th Congress and will be tracked as warranted.