I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2441

To amend title 17, United States Code, to adapt the copyright law to the

digital, networked environment of the national information infrastructure,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 29, 1995

Mr. MOORHEAD (for himself, Mrs. SCHROEDER, and Mr. COBLE) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To amend title 17, United States Code, to adapt the copyright law to the digital, networked environment of the

national information infrastructure, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NII Copyright Protec5 tion Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF COPIES.

7 (a) DISTRIBUTION.—Section 106(3) of title 17,

8 United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘or by rental,
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1 lease, or lending’’ and inserting ‘‘by rental, lease, or lend2 ing, or by transmission’’.

3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 101 of title 17, United

4 States Code, is amended—

5 (1) in the definition of ‘‘publication’’, by strik6 ing ‘‘or by rental, lease, or lending’’ in the first sen7 tence and inserting ‘‘by rental, lease, or lending, or

8 by transmission’’; and

9 (2) in the definition of ‘‘transmit’’, by inserting

10 at the end thereof the following: ‘‘To ‘transmit’ a re11 production is to distribute it by any device or proc12 ess whereby a copy of phonorecord of the work is

13 fixed beyond the place from which it was sent.’’.

14 (c) IMPORTATION.—Section 602 of title 17, United

15 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘whether by carriage

16 of tangible goods or by transmission,’’ after ‘‘Importation

17 into the United States,’’.

18 SEC. 3. EXEMPTIONS FOR LIBRARIES AND THE VISUALLY

19 IMPAIRED.

20 (a) LIBRARIES.—Section 108 of title 17, United

21 States Code, is amended—

22 (1) in subsection (a)—

23 (A) by striking ‘‘one copy or phonorecord’’

24 and inserting ‘‘three copies or phonorecords’’;
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1 (B) by striking ‘‘such copy or phono2 record’’ and inserting ‘‘no more than one of

3 such copies or phonorecords’’;

4 (C) by inserting before the period at the

5 end of paragraph (3) the following: ‘‘if such no6 tice appears on the copy or phonorecord that is

7 reproduced under the provisions of this sec8 tion’’;

9 (2) in subsection (b)—

10 (A) by inserting ‘‘or digital’’ after ‘‘fac11 simile’’; and

12 (B) by inserting ‘‘in facsimile form’’ before

13 ‘‘for deposit for research use’’; and

14 (3) in subsection (c) by inserting ‘‘or digital’’

15 after ‘‘facsimile’’.

16 (b) VISUALLY IMPAIRED.—Title 17, United States

17 Code, is amended by inserting after section 108 the follow18 ing new section:

19 ‘‘§ 108A. Limitations on exclusive rights: Reproduc20 tion for the visually impaired

21 ‘‘Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is

22 not an infringement of copyright for a nonprofit organiza23 tion to reproduce and distribute to the visually impaired,

24 at cost, a Braille, large type, audio, or other edition of

25 a previously published literary work in a form intended
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1 to be perceived by the visually impaired, provided that,

2 during a period of at least one year after the first publica3 tion of a standard edition of such work in the United

4 States, the owner of the exclusive right to distribute such

5 work in the United States has not entered the market for

6 editions intended to be perceived by the visually im7 paired.’’.

8 SEC. 4. COPYRIGHT PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND COPY9 RIGHT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION.

10 Title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding

11 at the end the following new chapter:

‘‘CHAPTER 12—COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

‘‘Sec. 1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems.

‘‘Sec. 1202. Integrity of copyright management information.

‘‘Sec. 1203. Civil remedies.

‘‘Sec. 1204. Criminal offenses and penalties.

12 ‘‘§ 1201. Circumvention of copyright protection sys13 tems

14 ‘‘No person shall import, manufacture, or distribute

15 any device, product, or component incorporated into a de16 vice or product, or offer or perform any service, the pri17 mary purpose or effect of which is to avoid, bypass, re18 move, deactivate, or otherwise circumvent, without the au19 thority of the copyright owner or the law, any process,

20 treatment, mechanism, or system which prevents or inhib21 its the violation of any of the exclusive rights of the copy22 right owner under section 106.
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1 ‘‘§ 1202. Integrity of copyright management informa2 tion

3 ‘‘(a) FALSE COPYRIGHT MANAGEMENT INFORMA4 TION.—No person shall knowingly provide copyright man5 agement information that is false, or knowingly publicly

6 distribute or import for public distribution copyright man7 agement information that is false.

8 ‘‘(b) REMOVAL OR ALTERATION OF COPYRIGHT

9 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION.—No person shall, without

10 authority of the copyright owner or the law, (i) knowingly

11 remove or alter any copyright management information,

12 (ii) knowingly distribute or import for distribution copy13 right management information that has been altered with14 out authority of the copyright owner or the law, or (iii)

15 knowingly distribute or import for distribution copies or

16 phonorecords from which copyright management informa17 tion has been removed without authority of the copyright

18 owner or the law.

19 ‘‘(c) DEFINITION.—As used in this chapter, ‘copy20 right management information’ means the name and other

21 identifying information of the author of a work, the name

22 and other identifying information of the copyright owner,

23 terms and conditions for uses of the work, and such other

24 information as the Register of Copyrights may prescribe

25 by regulation.
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1 ‘‘§ 1203. Civil rights

2 ‘‘(a) CIVIL ACTIONS.—Any person injured by a viola3 tion of section 1201 or 1202 may bring a civil action in

4 an appropriate United States district court for such viola5 tion.

6 ‘‘(b) POWERS OF THE COURT.—In an action brought

7 under subsection (a), the court—

8 ‘‘(1) may grant temporary and permanent in9 junctions on such terms as it deems reasonable to

10 prevent or restrain a violation;

11 ‘‘(2) at any time while an action is pending,

12 may order the impounding, on such terms as it

13 deems reasonable, of any device or product that is

14 in the custody or control of the alleged violator and

15 that the court has reasonable cause to believe was

16 involved in a violation;

17 ‘‘(3) may award damages under subsection (c);

18 ‘‘(4) in its discretion may allow the recovery of

19 costs by or against any party other than the United

20 States or an officer thereof;

21 ‘‘(5) in its discretion may award reasonable at22 torney’s fees to the prevailing party; and

23 ‘‘(6) may, as part of a final judgment or decree

24 finding a violation, order the remedial modification

25 or the destruction of any device or product involved

26 in the violation that is in the custody or control of
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1 the violator or has been impounded under paragraph

2 (2).

3 ‘‘(c) AWARD OF DAMAGES.—

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro5 vided in this chapter, a violator is liable for either

6 (i) the actual damages and any additional profits of

7 the violator, as provided in paragraph (2), or (ii)

8 statutory damages, as provided in paragraph (3).

9 ‘‘(2) ACTUAL DAMAGES.—The court shall

10 award to the complaining party the actual damages

11 suffered by him or her as a result of the violation,

12 and any profits of the violator that are attributable

13 to the violation and are not taken into account in

14 computing the actual damages, if the complaining

15 party elects such damages at any time before final

16 judgment is entered.

17 ‘‘(3) STATUTORY DAMAGES.—

18 ‘‘(A) At any time before final judgment is

19 entered, a complaining party may elect to re20 cover an award of statutory damages for each

21 violation of section 1201 in the sum of not less

22 than $200 or more than $2,500 per device,

23 product, or offer or performance of service, as

24 the court considers just.
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1 ‘‘(B) At any time before final judgment is

2 entered, a complaining party may elect to re3 cover an award of statutory damages for each

4 violation of section 1202 in the sum of not less

5 than $2,500 or more than $25,000.

6 ‘‘(4) REPEATED VIOLATIONS.—In any case in

7 which the injured party sustains the burden of prov8 ing, and the court finds, that a person has violated

9 section 1201 or 1202 within 3 years after a final

10 judgment was entered against that person for an11 other such violation, the court may increase the

12 award of damages up to triple the amount that

13 would otherwise be awarded, as the court considers

14 just.

15 ‘‘(5) INNOCENT VIOLATIONS.—The court in its

16 discretion may reduce or remit altogether the total

17 award of damages in any case in which the violator

18 sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds,

19 that the violator was not aware and had no reason

20 to believe that its acts constituted a violation.

21 ‘‘§ 1204. Criminal offenses and penalties

22 ‘‘Any person who violates section 1202 with intent

23 to defraud shall be fined not more than $500,000 or im24 prisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.’’.
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1 SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

2 (a) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections for

3 chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code, is amended by

4 inserting after the item relating to section 108 the follow5 ing:

‘‘108A. Limitations on exclusive rights: Reproduction for the visually impaired.’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CHAPTERS.—The table of chapters for

7 title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the

8 end the following:

‘‘12. COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS 1201’’.

9 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

10 This Act, and the amendments made by this Act,

11 shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

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