RL32035
Copyright Law: Digital Rights Management Legislation
August 02, 2004

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Center for Democracy & Technology

Summary:

Digital Rights Management (DRM) refers to the technology that copyright owners use to protect digital media. This report surveys several of the DRM bills that were introduced in the 107th Congress and those that are pending in the 108th Congress. Generally, the bills are directed at two separate goals. One goal is to increase access to digitally-protected media for lawful purposes. The other attempts to thwart digital piracy and would do so by enhancing civil and criminal sanctions for digital (and traditional) copyright infringement and educating the public about the rights of copyright holders.

Although no bills were enacted during the 107th Congress, two of the bills focusing on access have been reintroduced in the 108th Congress. Representatives Boucher and Lofgren reintroduced their bills from the 107th Congress. They are H.R. 107, the "Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003" and H.R. 1066, respectively. H.R. 1066 is renamed the "Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2003." And Senator Wyden introduced S. 692, a labeling disclosure bill entitled the "Digital Consumers Right to Know Act."

S. 1621, the "Consumers, Schools, and Libraries Digital Management Awareness Act of 2003," addresses several DRM issues. It would prohibit the Federal Communication Commission from establishing mandatory technology standards and require disclosure requirements for access controlled digital media and consumer electronics. It also addresses the subpoena process by which copyright owners acquire personal information about suspected infringers. And H.R. 4586, the "Family Movie Act of 2004," which was reported favorably by the House Judiciary Committee, would amend the law to expressly authorize the in-home use of filtering technology designed to edit out sexual, violent, or profane content in movies available for consumers' home viewing.

Bills addressing piracy include H.R. 4077, the "Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004"; S. 1932, the "Artists Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2004"; and, S. 2237, the "Protecting Intellectual Rights Against Theft and Expropriation Act of 2004." S. 1932 and S. 2237 have been passed by the Senate. Because digital transmission poses the greatest distribution risk to entertainment content owners, these bills attempt to thwart the initial unauthorized copying and/or uploading to the Internet. Hence, sanctions for illegal distribution of pre-release commercial works and surreptitious recording of movies in theaters are emphasized. On June 22, 2004, S. 2560, the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004" was introduced in the Senate. This bill would add a new section to the Copyright Act defining intentional inducement of copyright infringement as an express form of statutory infringement.