Jack's jazzed
Pols offer sweeping copyright bill
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WASHINGTON -- Jack Valenti couldn't have received a better parting gift from Capitol Hill before he exits the Motion Picture Assn. of America.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and the panel's ranking Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, introduced legislation late Tuesday that would usher in the most sweeping changes to copyright law in the 20 years since courts legalized the Betamax videocassette recorder.
Linking online file-trading to child pornography and exploitation, the bill would effectively bar peer-to-peer networks, where most online piracy takes place.
"In the film 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,' the leering Childcatcher lured children into danger with false promises of free lollipops," Hatch said during a lengthy floor speech about the bill. "Tragically, some corporations now seem to think that they can legally profit by inducing children to steal, that they can legally lure children and others with false promises of free music."
Specifically, the legislation imposes the same legal burden on "whoever intentionally induces a violation (of copyright law)" as is faced by individual infringers.
Bipartisan backing
Legislation already has multiple co-sponsors, including such prominent senators as Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).
The MPAA, the Recording Industry Assn. of America and the Directors Guild of America all heralded the legislation Wednesday.
"The bill is a simple but important piece of legislation," Valenti said. "It is grounded in the commonsense notion that people who 'actively induce' others to break copyright laws are themselves violating copyright laws and should face legal consequences."
Facing the extinction of their businesses, P2P leaders were quick to condemn the legislation.
Protect innovation
"Congress should act in the interest of consumers and innovators providing alternative means of distribution and not add fuel to the entertainment industry's well-lit fires," said Sam Yagan, prexy of P2P network eDonkey.
Consumer groups also reacted with strong opposition as soon as the bill was introduced, criticizing it as overly broad because it would regard any action that leads to copyright infringement as unlawful, even if no infringement was intended.
Mike Godwin, legal director of consumer org Public Knowledge, said the legislation runs the risk of discouraging or outlawing future technologies that have "substantial" non-infringing uses.
"No one will invest in or invent new innovative technologies if the mere fact that they can be used unlawfully is enough to make the investors and the inventors liable," he said.
Godwin also charged the bill would gut the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios. That case found that Sony, as the manufacturer of a copying device, the Betamax videocassette recorder, was not liable for any infringement just because its product could be used to make illegal copies of movies.
Hatch dismissed such claims, maintaining the measure would address only cases of "intentional inducement" not covered in the Sony ruling.
Even though industry sources said the bill is on a fast track in the Senate, Valenti can hardly rest easy.
Crossing the DMCA
On the other side of the Capitol, another piracy-related battle is brewing over some of the more controversial provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act .
Rep. Rick Boucher (R-Va.) is pushing a measure that would allow individuals to circumvent encryption codes on copyrighted CDs and DVDs, as long as it's for personal or "fair use," not for copying the content to sell on the black market.
Current copyright law prohibits such practices even for consumers, educators and libraries.
The DMCA passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming support in 1998. Yet as technology has advanced, leading to new entertainment devices, opponents of the law have campaigned for Congress to revisit the act. These arguments are beginning to gain traction on Capitol Hill, much to the chagrin of the entertainment biz.
On Tuesday, the new House Energy & Commerce Committee chairman, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), threw his support behind Boucher's bill, pledging to pass it out of committee in the next month.
In response, the studios are mounting a furious lobbying campaign to stop it in its tracks. In the last two weeks, Valenti has been working overtime to stop the momentum, meeting with key lawmakers.
"Mr. Valenti had me out to his house for dinner last week," Barton told reporters Tuesday. "After 20 years in Congress, that's the first time I've been to his house."
(Ben Fritz in Hollywood and Video Business reporter Paul Sweeting contributed to this report.)
