Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act

To promote consumer choice and wireless competition by permitting consumers to unlock mobile wireless devices, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act 2. Repeal of existing rule and additional rulemaking by Librarian of Congress (a) Repeal and replace Paragraph (3) of section 201.40(b) (b) Rulemaking Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, who shall consult with the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce and report and comment on his or her views in making such recommendation, shall determine, consistent with the requirements set forth under section 1201(a)(1) (c) Rule of construction Nothing in this Act alters, or shall be construed to alter, the authority of the Librarian of Congress under section 1201(a)(1) of title 17, United States Code. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act 2. Repeal of existing rule and additional rulemaking by Librarian of Congress (a) Repeal and replace As of the date of the enactment of this Act, paragraph (3) of section 201.40(b) section 1201(a) (b) Rulemaking The Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, who shall consult with the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce and report and comment on his or her views in making such recommendation, shall determine, consistent with the requirements set forth under section 1201(a)(1) section 201.40(b)(3) (c) Unlocking at direction of owner Circumvention of a technological measure that restricts wireless telephone handsets or other wireless devices from connecting to a wireless telecommunications network— (1) (A) as authorized by paragraph (3) of section 201.40(b) (B) as may be extended to other wireless devices pursuant to a determination in the rulemaking conducted under subsection (b); or (2) as authorized by an exemption adopted by the Librarian of Congress pursuant to a determination made on or after the date of enactment of this Act under section 1201(a)(1)(C) may be initiated by the owner of any such handset or other device, by another person at the direction of the owner, or by a provider of a commercial mobile radio service or a commercial mobile data service at the direction of such owner or other person, solely in order to enable such owner or a family member of such owner to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when such connection is authorized by the operator of such network. (d) Rule of construction (1) In general Except as expressly provided herein, nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter the scope of any party's rights under existing law. (2) Librarian of Congress Nothing in this Act alters, or shall be construed to alter, the authority of the Librarian of Congress under section 1201(a)(1) (e) Definitions In this Act: (1) Commercial mobile data service; commercial mobile radio service The terms commercial mobile data service commercial mobile radio service section 20.3 (2) Wireless telecommunications network The term wireless telecommunications network (3) Wireless telephone handsets; wireless devices The terms wireless telephone handset wireless device July 10, 2014 Reported with an amendment

Summary: (This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the Senate on July 10, 2014. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act - Repeals a Library of Congress (LOC) rulemaking determination, made upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, regarding the circumvention of technological measures controlling access to copyrighted software on wireless telephone handsets (mobile telephones) for the purpose of connecting to different wireless telecommunications networks (a practice commonly referred to as "unlocking" such devices). Reestablishes, as an exemption to provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibiting such circumvention, a previous LOC rule permitting the use of computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of such computer program solely to connect to such a network and access to the network is authorized by the network operator, thus permitting unlocked phones. Directs the Librarian of Congress, upon the recommendation of the Register, to determine whether to extend such exemption to include any other category of wireless devices in addition to wireless telephone handsets (e.g., tablets and other mobile broadband-enabled devices). Allows such circumvention (unlocking) to be initiated by the owner of such a device, by another person at the direction of the owner, or by a provider of a commercial mobile radio service or a commercial mobile data service at the direction of such owner or other person, solely in order to enable such owner or a family member of such owner to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when such connection is authorized by the operator of such network. Prohibits this Act from being construed to alter any party's rights under existing law.