Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005 - Amends federal copyright law to: (1) include analog or digital transmissions of a copyrighted work within fair use protections; (2) provide that it is not a copyright infringement for a person who lawfully obtains or receives a transmission of a digital work to reproduce, store, adapt, or access it for archival purposes or to transfer it to a preferred digital media device in order to effect a non-public performance or display; (3) allow the owner of a particular copy of a digital work to sell or otherwise dispose of the work by means of a transmission to a single recipient, provided the owner does not retain his or her copy in a retrievable form and the work is sold or otherwise disposed of in its original format; and (4) permit circumvention of copyright encryption technology if it is necessary to enable a noninfringing use and the copyright owner fails to make publicly available the necessary means for circumvention without additional cost or burden to a person who has lawfully obtained or received a copy, phonorecord, or transmission of it.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4536 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4536
To amend title 17, United States Code, to safeguard the rights and
expectations of consumers who lawfully obtain digital entertainment.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 14, 2005
Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California (for herself, Mr. Boucher, and Mr.
Doolittle) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 17, United States Code, to safeguard the rights and
expectations of consumers who lawfully obtain digital entertainment.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Benefit Authors without Limiting
Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The law of copyright is often described as a
``difficult balance between the interests of authors . . . in
the control and exploitation of their writings . . . on the one
hand, and society's competing interest in the free flow of
ideas, information, and commerce on the other hand.'' Sony
Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 429
(1984).
(2) Copyright seeks to encourage and reward creative
efforts by securing a fair return for an author's labor.
Twentieth Century Music Corp. v. Aiken, 422 U.S. 151, 156
(1975). At the same time, ``[f]rom the infancy of copyright
protection, some opportunity for fair use of copyrighted
materials has been thought necessary to fulfill copyright's
very purpose, `[t]o promote the Progress of Science and useful
Arts . . .''' Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., 510 U.S. 569,
575 (1994).
(3) ``[P]rivate motivation must ultimately serve the cause
of promoting broad public availability of literature, music,
and the other arts . . . When technological change has rendered
its literal terms ambiguous, the Copyright Act must be
construed in light of this basic purpose.'' Twentieth Century
Music Corp., 422 U.S. at 156.
(4) Advances in technology have often prompted changes to
the copyright laws to maintain the balance. For example, the
development of player pianos preceded the enactment of the
Copyright Act of 1909. The development of cable television
prompted complex reforms to section 111 of title 17, United
States Code. Sony, 464 U.S. at 430-31.
(5) The development of digital technology and the rise of
the Internet have once again altered the balance. On the one
hand, digital technology threatens the rights of copyright
holders. Perfect digital copies of songs and movies can be
publicly transmitted, without authorization, to thousands of
people at little or no cost. On the other hand, technological
control measures give copyright holders the capacity to limit
nonpublic performances and threaten society's interests in the
free flow of ideas, information, and commerce.
(6) The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'') was
enacted as an attempt to safeguard the traditional balance in
the face of these new challenges. It gave copyright holders the
ability to fight digital piracy by employing technical
restrictions that prevent unlawful access and copying. In
practice, however, the DMCA also endangered the rights and
expectations of legitimate consumers.
(7) Contrary to the intent of Congress, section 1201 of
title 17, United States Code, has been interpreted to prohibit
all users--even lawful ones--from circumventing technical
restrictions for any reason. As a result, the lawful consumer
cannot legally circumvent technological restrictions, even if
he or she is simply trying to exercise a fair use or to utilize
the work on a different digital media device. See, e.g.,
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Reimerdes, 111 F. Supp. 2d 294,
321-24 (S.D.N.Y. 2000) (DMCA failed to give consumers the
technical means to make fair uses of encrypted copyrighted
works).
(8) The authors of the DMCA never intended to create such a
dramatic shift in the balance. As the report of the Committee
of the Judiciary of the House of Representatives accompanying
the DMCA stated: ``[A]n individual [should] not be able to
circumvent in order to gain unauthorized access to a work, but
[should] be able to do so in order to make fair use of a work
which he or she has acquired lawfully.'' House Report 105-551,
Part I, Section-by-Section Analysis of section 1201(a)(1).
(9) It is now necessary to restore the traditional balance
between copyright holders and society, as intended by the 105th
Congress. Copyright laws in the digital age must prevent and
punish digital pirates without treating every consumer as one.
SEC. 3. PROTECTING FAIR USE AND CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS IN THE DIGITAL
WORLD.
(a) Fair Use.--The first sentence of section 107 of title 17,
United States Code, is amended by inserting after ``or by any other
means specified in that section,'' the following: ``including by analog
or digital transmissions,''.
(b) Permissible Uses of Digital Works.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code,
is amended by adding after section 122 the following:
``Sec. 123. Limitations on exclusive rights; permissible uses of
digital works
``(a) Use of Lawfully Obtained Digital Works.--Notwithstanding the
provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement of copyright for a
person who lawfully obtains a copy or phonorecord of a digital work, or
who lawfully receives a transmission of a digital work, to reproduce,
store, adapt, or access the digital work--
``(1) for archival purposes, if all such archival copies
are destroyed or rendered permanently inaccessible in the event
that continued possession of the work should cease to be
rightful; and
``(2) in order to perform or display the work, or an
adaptation of the work, on a digital media device, if the work
is not so performed or displayed publicly.
``(b) Effect of Licenses.--When a digital work is distributed to
the public subject to nonnegotiable license terms, such terms shall not
be enforceable under the common laws or statutes of any State to the
extent that they restrict or limit any of the limitations on exclusive
rights under this title.
``(c) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following terms
have the following meanings:
``(1) A `digital work' is any literary work (except a
computer program), sound recording, musical work, dramatic
work, or motion picture or other audiovisual work, in whole or
in part in a digital or other nonanalog format.
``(2) A `digital media device' is any hardware or software
that converts copyrighted works in digital form into a format
whereby the images and sounds are visible or audible, or
retrieves or accesses copyrighted works in digital format and
transfers or makes available for transfer such works to such
hardware or software.
``(d) Construction.--Nothing in this section shall enlarge or
diminish any of the other limitations on exclusive rights contained in
this title, including any limitations that relate to archival
activities by a library or an archives under sections 107 and 108.''.
(2) Conforming amendment.--The table of sections for
chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding
at the end the following new item:
``123. Limitations on exclusive rights; Permissible uses of digital
works.''.
SEC. 4. DIGITAL FIRST SALE.
Section 109 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding
at the end the following:
``(f) The privileges prescribed by subsections (a) and (c) apply in
a case in which the owner of a particular copy or phonorecord of a work
in a digital or other nonanalog format, or any person authorized by
such owner, sells or otherwise disposes of the work by means of a
transmission to a single recipient, if the owner does not retain the
copy or phonorecord in a retrievable form and the work is so sold or
otherwise disposed of in its original format.''.
SEC. 5. PERMISSIBLE CIRCUMVENTION TO ENABLE FAIR USE AND CONSUMER
EXPECTATIONS.
Section 1201 of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) through (k) as
subsections (d) through (l), respectively; and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Circumvention for Noninfringing Uses.--(1) Notwithstanding
any other provision in this title, a person who lawfully obtains a copy
or phonorecord of a work, or who lawfully receives a transmission of a
work, may circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls
access to the work or protects a right of the copyright holder under
this title if--
``(A) such act is necessary to make a noninfringing use of
the work under this title; and
``(B) the copyright owner fails to make publicly available
the necessary means to make such noninfringing use without
additional cost or burden to such person.
``(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a)(2) and (b),
any person may manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or
otherwise make available technological means to circumvent a
technological measure that effectively controls access to a work
protected under this title or protects a right of a copyright holder
under this title, if--
``(A) such means are necessary to make a noninfringing use
under paragraph (1)(A);
``(B) such means are designed, produced, and marketed to
make a noninfringing use under paragraph (1)(A); and
``(C) the copyright owner fails to make available the
necessary means referred to in paragraph (1)(B).''.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
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