[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3209 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3209

To amend title 17, United States Code, to limit liability for copyright 
                   infringement for on-line material.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1998

  Mr. Coble (for himself and Mr. Goodlatte) introduced the following 
       bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to limit liability for copyright 
                   infringement for on-line material.

    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 ``On-Line Copyright Infringement 
Liability Limitation Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON LIABILITY FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 5 of title 17, United States Code, is 
amended by adding after section 511 the following new section:
``Sec. 512. Limitations on liability relating to material on-line
    ``(a) Limitation.--Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, a 
provider shall not be liable for--
            ``(1) direct infringement, based solely on the intermediate 
        storage and transmission of material over that provider's 
        system or network, if--
                    ``(A) the transmission was initiated by another 
                person;
                    ``(B) the storage and transmission is carried out 
                through an automatic technological process, without any 
                selection of that material by the provider; and
                    ``(C) any copy made of the material is not retained 
                longer than necessary for the purpose of carrying out 
                that transmission;
            ``(2) monetary relief under section 504 or 505 for 
        contributory infringement or vicarious liability, based solely 
        on conduct described in paragraph (1); or
            ``(3) monetary relief under section 504 or 505 for 
        contributory infringement or vicarious liability, based solely 
        on transmitting or providing access to material over that 
        provider's system or network, other than conduct described in 
        paragraph (1), if the provider--
                    ``(A) does not know and is not aware of information 
                indicating that the material is infringing; and
                    ``(B) does not receive a financial benefit directly 
                attributable to the infringing activity.
    ``(b) Protection of Privacy.--Nothing in subsection (a) shall 
authorize or obligate a provider to access material that the provider 
is prohibited by law from accessing, or impose an affirmative 
obligation to monitor or otherwise seek information indicating 
infringement.
    ``(c) Limitation Based Upon Removing or Disabling Access to 
Infringing Material.--A provider shall not be liable for any claim 
based on that provider's removing or disabling on-line access to 
material, in response to knowledge or information indicating that the 
material is infringing, whether or not the material is infringing.
    ``(d) Other Defenses Not Affected.--Removing or disabling access to 
material which a provider transmits on-line or to which a provider 
provides on-line access, or the failure to do so, shall not adversely 
bear upon the consideration by a court of a defense to infringement 
asserted by that provider on the basis of section 107 or any other 
provision of law.
    ``(e) Misrepresentations.--Any person who knowingly materially 
misrepresents that material on-line is infringing shall be liable for 
any damages, including costs and attorneys' fees, incurred by the 
alleged infringer or by any copyright owner or copyright owner's 
authorized licensee who is injured by such misrepresentation, or by any 
provider who relies upon such misrepresentation in removing or 
disabling access to the material claimed to be infringing.
    ``(f) Definition.--As used in this section, the term `provider' 
means a provider of on-line services or network access.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 5 of 
title 17, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``512. Limitations on liability relating to material on-line.''.
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