CEA Applauds Congressmen Boucher And Doolittle For Protecting Consumers

4-Oct-02

Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) President and CEO Gary Shapiro issued the following statement welcoming the introduction of consumer-friendly legislation by U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) and John Doolittle (R-California), which would protect intellectual property rights without jeopardizing consumer fair use of digital media:""On behalf of CEA, I commend Representative Boucher and Representative Doolittle on this important and pro-consumer legislation. Their approach ensures that the play button does not become the pay button as digital technologies proliferate.""This bill adds critical fair use protections to U.S. copyright law. Everywhere we look, Americans' fair use rights and the Supreme Court's Betamax holding are under attack. Representatives Boucher and Doolittle recognize that, as we move into the digital age, the public needs these protections to be strengthened, not weakened. This bill also protects consumers by making sure they are not fooled into buying 'copy-protected' compact discs that will not play in cars, computers, or DVD players.""Consumers feel strongly about preserving their fair use rights. Preliminary results of a recent survey of online consumers conducted by CEA's eBrain Market Research to be released next week found that 80 percent of consumers believe it is not illegal to make a copy of a CD or DVD for their own personal use or for use by someone in their family.""CEA and the entire consumer electronics industry are proud to recognize again Representative Boucher's leadership over the past five years in working to uphold consumers' non-commercial enjoyment of authorized recordings and copies. We thank him and Representative Doolittle for introducing this bill and look forward to participating in additional inter-industry discussions as this bill moves through the Congress.""