BUSH SIGNS RIAA-BACKED INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW
President George Bush (R) on Monday signed into law an intellectual-
property enforcement bill that would consolidate federal efforts to
combat copyright infringement under a new White House cabinet
position. The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual
Property Act establishes within the executive branch the position of
intellectual property enforcement coordinator, who will be appointed
by the president. The law also steepens penalties for intellectual-
property infringement, and increases resources for the Department of
Justice to coordinate for federal and state efforts against
counterfeiting and piracy. The so-called Pro-IP Act passed unanimously
in the Senate last month and received strong bipartisan support in the
House. The Bush administration initially expressed its opposition to
the legislation, but one of its more contentious provisions, which
would have allowed the Justice Department to pursue civil litigation
against copyright infringers, was removed.
"It would've been nice to have something to benefit the public and
artists
instead of big media companies," Public Knowledge
Communications Director
Art Brodsky said, noting that Congress and the
president could give more
consideration to the public on matters of
intellectual property, with further
action on the issue of "orphan works," copyrighted material for which
the owner cannot be found.
The Senate in September passed a bill limiting civil actions in copyright
infringement cases involving orphan works.
Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
www.eff.org
+1 415 436-9333 x123 (office)
EFF Marks 10th Anniversary of DMCA with Report on Law's
Unintended Consequences
Ten-Year Legacy of Harm to Fair Use, Free Speech
San Francisco - Ten years ago Tuesday, the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was signed into law. In a
report released to mark the anniversary, the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) documents the ways in which this
controversial law has harmed fair use, free speech,
scientific research, and legitimate competition.
"Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the DMCA" focuses
on the most notorious aspect of the law: its ban on
"circumventing" digital rights management (DRM) and "other
technical protection measures." Instead of protecting
against copyright infringement, this ban has routinely been
used to stymie consumers, scientists, and small businesses.
"Unintended Consequences" collects reports of the law's
most egregious abuses over the last decade. In 2003, for
example, Lexmark used the DMCA to block distribution of
chips that allow the refilling of laser toner cartridges.
In 2006, computer security researchers at Princeton delayed
disclosure of a dangerous hidden program in some Sony CDs
based on fears of DMCA liability. Meanwhile, the DMCA has
not prevented digital piracy. DRM systems are consistently
and routinely broken almost immediately upon their
introduction.
"Over the last ten years, the DMCA has done far more harm
to fair use, free speech, scientific research, and
competition than it has to digital piracy. Measured from
the perspective of the public, it's been a decade of costs,
with no benefits," said EFF Senior Intellectual Property
Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The music industry has given
up on DRM, and Hollywood now relies on DRM principally to
stop innovation that it doesn't like. It's time for
Congress to consider giving up on this failed experiment to
back up DRM systems with misguided laws."
For "Unintended Consequences: Ten Years Under the DMCA":
For more on the DMCA:
For this press release:
About EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/