[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2441 Introduced in House (IH)]







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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``NII Copyright Protection Act of 
1995''.

SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF COPIES.

    (a) Distribution.--Section 106(3) of title 17, United States Code, 
is amended by striking ``or by rental, lease, or lending'' and 
inserting ``by rental, lease, or lending, or by transmission''.
    (b) Definitions.--Section 101 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in the definition of ``publication'', by striking ``or 
        by rental, lease, or lending'' in the first sentence and 
        inserting ``by rental, lease, or lending, or by transmission''; 
        and
            (2) in the definition of ``transmit'', by inserting at the 
        end thereof the following: ``To `transmit' a reproduction is to 
        distribute it by any device or process whereby a copy of 
        phonorecord of the work is fixed beyond the place from which it 
        was sent.''.
    (c) Importation.--Section 602 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting ``whether by carriage of tangible goods or by 
transmission,'' after ``Importation into the United States,''.

SEC. 3. EXEMPTIONS FOR LIBRARIES AND THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED.

    (a) Libraries.--Section 108 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking ``one copy or phonorecord'' and 
                inserting ``three copies or phonorecords'';
                    (B) by striking ``such copy or phonorecord'' and 
                inserting ``no more than one of such copies or 
                phonorecords'';
                    (C) by inserting before the period at the end of 
                paragraph (3) the following: ``if such notice appears 
                on the copy or phonorecord that is reproduced under the 
                provisions of this section'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or digital'' after 
                ``facsimile''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``in facsimile form'' before ``for 
                deposit for research use''; and
            (3) in subsection (c) by inserting ``or digital'' after 
        ``facsimile''.
    (b) Visually Impaired.--Title 17, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after section 108 the following new section:
``Sec. 108A. Limitations on exclusive rights: Reproduction for the 
              visually impaired
    ``Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an 
infringement of copyright for a nonprofit organization to reproduce and 
distribute to the visually impaired, at cost, a Braille, large type, 
audio, or other edition of a previously published literary work in a 
form intended to be perceived by the visually impaired, provided that, 
during a period of at least one year after the first publication of a 
standard edition of such work in the United States, the owner of the 
exclusive right to distribute such work in the United States has not 
entered the market for editions intended to be perceived by the 
visually impaired.''.

SEC. 4. COPYRIGHT PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND COPYRIGHT MANAGEMENT 
              INFORMATION.

    Title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding 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.
``Sec. 1201. Circumvention of copyright protection systems
    ``No person shall import, manufacture, or distribute any device, 
product, or component incorporated into a device or product, or offer 
or perform any service, the primary purpose or effect of which is to 
avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or otherwise circumvent, without the 
authority of the copyright owner or the law, any process, treatment, 
mechanism, or system which prevents or inhibits the violation of any of 
the exclusive rights of the copyright owner under section 106.
``Sec. 1202. Integrity of copyright management information
    ``(a) False Copyright Management Information.--No person shall 
knowingly provide copyright management information that is false, or 
knowingly publicly distribute or import for public distribution 
copyright management information that is false.
    ``(b) Removal or Alteration of Copyright Management Information.--
No person shall, without authority of the copyright owner or the law, 
(i) knowingly remove or alter any copyright management information, 
(ii) knowingly distribute or import for distribution copyright 
management information that has been altered without authority of the 
copyright owner or the law, or (iii) knowingly distribute or import for 
distribution copies or phonorecords from which copyright management 
information has been removed without authority of the copyright owner 
or the law.
    ``(c) Definition.--As used in this chapter, `copyright management 
information' means the name and other identifying information of the 
author of a work, the name and other identifying information of the 
copyright owner, terms and conditions for uses of the work, and such 
other information as the Register of Copyrights may prescribe by 
regulation.
``Sec. 1203. Civil rights
    ``(a) Civil Actions.--Any person injured by a violation of section 
1201 or 1202 may bring a civil action in an appropriate United States 
district court for such violation.
    ``(b) Powers of the Court.--In an action brought under subsection 
(a), the court--
            ``(1) may grant temporary and permanent injunctions on such 
        terms as it deems reasonable to prevent or restrain a 
        violation;
            ``(2) at any time while an action is pending, may order the 
        impounding, on such terms as it deems reasonable, of any device 
        or product that is in the custody or control of the alleged 
        violator and that the court has reasonable cause to believe was 
        involved in a violation;
            ``(3) may award damages under subsection (c);
            ``(4) in its discretion may allow the recovery of costs by 
        or against any party other than the United States or an officer 
        thereof;
            ``(5) in its discretion may award reasonable attorney's 
        fees to the prevailing party; and
            ``(6) may, as part of a final judgment or decree finding a 
        violation, order the remedial modification or the destruction 
        of any device or product involved in the violation that is in 
        the custody or control of the violator or has been impounded 
        under paragraph (2).
    ``(c) Award of Damages.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided in this 
        chapter, a violator is liable for either (i) the actual damages 
        and any additional profits of the violator, as provided in 
        paragraph (2), or (ii) statutory damages, as provided in 
        paragraph (3).
            ``(2) Actual damages.--The court shall award to the 
        complaining party the actual damages suffered by him or her as 
        a result of the violation, and any profits of the violator that 
        are attributable to the violation and are not taken into 
        account in computing the actual damages, if the complaining 
        party elects such damages at any time before final judgment is 
        entered.
            ``(3) Statutory damages.--
                    ``(A) At any time before final judgment is entered, 
                a complaining party may elect to recover an award of 
                statutory damages for each violation of section 1201 in 
                the sum of not less than $200 or more than $2,500 per 
                device, product, or offer or performance of service, as 
                the court considers just.
                    ``(B) At any time before final judgment is entered, 
                a complaining party may elect to recover an award of 
                statutory damages for each violation of section 1202 in 
                the sum of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000.
            ``(4) Repeated violations.--In any case in which the 
        injured party sustains the burden of proving, and the court 
        finds, that a person has violated section 1201 or 1202 within 3 
        years after a final judgment was entered against that person 
        for another such violation, the court may increase the award of 
        damages up to triple the amount that would otherwise be 
        awarded, as the court considers just.
            ``(5) Innocent violations.--The court in its discretion may 
        reduce or remit altogether the total award of damages in any 
        case in which the violator sustains the burden of proving, and 
        the court finds, that the violator was not aware and had no 
        reason to believe that its acts constituted a violation.
``Sec. 1204. Criminal offenses and penalties
    ``Any person who violates section 1202 with intent to defraud shall 
be fined not more than $500,000 or imprisoned for not more than 5 
years, or both.''.

SEC. 5. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    (a) Table of Sections.--The table of sections for chapter 1 of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 108 the following:

``108A. Limitations on exclusive rights: Reproduction for the visually 
                            impaired.''.
    (b) Table of Chapters.--The table of chapters for title 17, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

``12. COPYRIGHT PROTECTION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS...........    1201''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall take effect on 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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