Digital Future Coalition

Summary of Issues and Proposals to Amend the NII Copyright Protection Act

This document briefly covers each proposed amendment to the NII Copyright Protection Act. Each issue has a link to a longer fact sheet on the specific proposal. For more information, see DFC's piece on Assuring Consistent U.S. Domestic And International Copyright Policy, which includes a chronology of copyright events that relate to the Berne Convention. You can also read Robert L. Oakley's testimony on behalf of the Digital Future Coalition in front of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

FACILITATING BROWSING AND NETWORKING (section 106)

Issue:

Whether an individual surfing the Internet, or otherwise " browsing" through computerized information, should be required in all cases to license that information (or otherwise obtain the copyright owner's permission) before viewing it?

Proposal:

The Digital Future Coalition urges Congress to make clear that RAM, and other "ephemeral", reproductions are not "copies" within the meaning of the Copyright Act by amending 106(1) of the Act.

CLARIFYING THE "FAIR USE" DOCTRINE (section 107)

Issue:

Whether Congress should selectively amend Section 106 of the Copyright Act to update the rights of copyright proprietors for a digital age without similarly reaffirming in statute the principal counterbalance to those rights codified at Section 107: the "Fair Use" doctrine.

Proposal:

The DFC proposes to amend the introductory paragraph of Section 107 to clarify that the Fair Use doctrine, too, applies to the transmission of copyrighted works.

MAXIMIZING PRESERVATION OF "HERITAGE" WORKS (section 108)

Issue:

Whether libraries and archives should be permitted to take full advantage of digital (and other new) technology to preserve copyrighted works important to the nation's artistic and scholarly heritage which are in imminent danger of being irretrievably lost to decay?

Proposal:

The Digital Future Coalition endorses technical amendments to the pending legislation to fully effectuate its intent.

REAFFIRMING THE "FIRST SALE" DOCTRINE (section 109)

Issue:

Whether someone who lawfully acquires a digital version of a copyrighted work should be permitted to pass that copy, without making another, on to a second person just as that person may now do with a "hard" copy of a work under the venerable "First Sale" doctrine, codified in Section 109 of the Copyright Act?

Proposal:

The Digital Future Coalition proposes amending Section 109(a) of the Copyright Act to make clear that the "First Sale" doctrine applies to digital copies lawfully acquired by means of transmission to the same extent -- no more or no less -- that it applies to physical analog copies.

ENCOURAGING "DISTANCE EDUCATION" (section 110)

Issue:

Whether revision of the Copyright Act should continue to encourage the burgeoning movement toward "distance education" in elementary, secondary and higher education?

Proposal:

The Digital Future Coalition expects to propose technical amendments to Section 110(2) and Sec. 112(b) of the Copyright Act to assure that the proposed clarification of proprietors? right of distribution does not unintentionally deprive the public of advances in distance education made possible by digital technology, and to eliminate anachronistic restrictions on the kinds of works that educators may transmit and the locations that may receive such transmissions.

BALANCING PROTECTION AND PROGRESS (section 1201)

Issue:

Whether the protection of intellectual property in cyberspace requires Congress to adopt sweeping new proposals that would reverse long-standing Supreme Court precedent which now makes possible both the home recording and time-shifting of broadcast material, and the prosecution of "high-tech" copyright infringers?

Proposal:

The Digital Future Coalition urges Congress to strike Section 1201 and, as it has in the past, to work with concerned industries to address copying issues on a more device- and technology-specific basis.

DELIMITING AND DEFINING CRIMINALIZED CONDUCT (section 1202)

Issue:

Whether, as drafted, provisions of the pending legislation intended to protect information about copyright ownership "imbedded" in a work are so overbroad and vague as to place unrealistic burdens on commerce and threaten the privacy of network users?

Proposal:

Before adopting new criminal penalties (and effectively delegating their definition to the U.S. Copyright Office), the Digital Future Coalition urges Congress to modify proposed new Section 1202 of the Copyright Act to make clear that only actions taken with the intent to facilitate copyright infringement are subject to criminal prosecution. The Coalition also requests that Congress hold detailed hearings on the appropriate scope of proposed Section 1202 and the potential of "copyright management information" systems to compromise network users' personal privacy.

-- May 8, 1996