And onetime backers have now turned on the legislation, saying it's too inflexible. Heavy hitters have lined up on both sides. On one hand, the software, Internet and banking industries say a new law is needed to address a legal black hole with respect to digital transactions. On the other, the entertainment, communications and publishing industries fear change will disrupt their business and argue that current laws work. Stuck in the middle is the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
Ring is chairman of the committee drafting the document.
For three years, the battle-weary conference has been working to create an article of the UCC that specifically addresses computer transactions. Right now, courts and regulators have been relying on Article 2 of the code. Originally, the conference attempted to draft an amendment to the UCC, dubbed Article 2B. That effort, however, fell apart amid industry objections that it would conflict with existing copyright and intellectual property laws and disrupt the traditional way industries have conducted transactions. The signatories included the Motion Picture Association of America Inc., the Recording Industry Association of America Inc., the Newspaper Association of America, the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Cable Television Association and the Magazine Publishers of America. The organizations participated in the drafting committee for Article 2B until last September, when they withdrew and urged that the project be scuttled.