HRRC Urges Passage Of Betamax Codification, Endorses Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act

Bill Would Promote User Freedoms under DMCA; Require Labels on ""Copy Protected"" CDs

26-Apr-05

The Home Recording Rights Coalition announced its endorsement of The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2005 (H.R. 1201). This legislation would codify into U.S. law the vital standard announced in the Supreme Court's landmark 1984 Betamax decision. It would also assure ""fair use"" protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for consumers, libraries, universities, archivists, and other lawful users of copyrighted works.H.R. 1201 was introduced on March 9 by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), with original cosponsors John Doolittle (R-CA) and Joe Barton (R-TX), Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee. Today, HRRC Chairman Gary Shapiro underscored the need for H.R. 1201's Betamax codification provision:""For innovation and for consumer freedom, the doctrine originally announced in the Betamax case is the magna carta and the Declaration of Independence rolled into one. Without the protection of this doctrine - that it is not a copyright violation to manufacture or distribute a product capable of substantial noninfringing uses - large corporate content providers would exercise a veto over every new function of every new product.""Shapiro went on to observe, ""Almost all of the 60 briefs filed with the Supreme Court in the Grokster case, on all sides of the issues, recognized the validity of the Betamax framework, and its necessity if we are to avoid artificial constraints on technology, innovation and investment. While there is scope for disagreement on its application, the core Betamax doctrine has become fundamental in U.S. law and society; it is time that it be recognized as such.""Shapiro underlined the necessity for clarifying the DMCA, to assure that those who would make fair use of copyrighted works are not impeded by the law's ""anticircumvention"" language. He noted that in this respect, the language of the 108th Congress's H.R. 107 has been sharpened, so as to apply only to users of the works. H.R. 1201 also would establish fair labeling requirements for ""copy protected"" Compact Discs. While the marketplace is well on the way to rejecting such products, HRRC believes that consumers should be warned if Compact Discs - a format that they have supported for twenty years - are to become subject to new constraints for copy protection purposes.For more information, visit http://www.HRRC.org

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