[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 72 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 72

To amend title 17, United States Code, to allow the making of a copy of 
 a computer program in connection with the maintenance or repair of a 
                               computer.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 1997

 Mr. Knollenberg introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 17, United States Code, to allow the making of a copy of 
 a computer program in connection with the maintenance or repair of a 
                               computer.

    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 ``Computer Maintenance Competition 
Assurance Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS; COMPUTER PROGRAMS.

    Section 117 of title 17, United States Code, is amended--
    (1) by striking ``Notwithstanding'' and inserting the following:
    ``(a) Making of Additional Copy or Adaptation by Owner of Copy.--
Notwithstanding'';
    (2) by striking ``Any exact'' and inserting the following:
    ``(b) Lease, Sale, or Other Transfer of Additional Copy or 
Adaptation.--Any exact''; and
    (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Machine Maintenance or Repair.--Notwithstanding the 
provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner or 
lessee of a machine to make or authorize the making of a copy of a 
computer program if such copy is made solely by virtue of the 
activation of a machine that lawfully contains an authorized copy of 
the computer program, for purposes only of maintenance or repair of 
that machine, if--
            ``(1) such new copy is used in no other manner and is 
        destroyed immediately after the maintenance or repair is 
        completed; and
            ``(2) with respect to any computer program or part thereof 
        that is not necessary for that machine to be activated, such 
        program or part thereof is not accessed or used other than to 
        make such new copy by virtue of the activation of the machine.
    ``(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the `maintenance' of a machine means servicing the 
        machine in order to make it work in accordance with its 
        original specifications and any changes to those specifications 
        authorized for that machine; and
            ``(2) the `repair' of a machine means restoring it to the 
        state of working in accordance with its original specifications 
        and any changes to those specifications authorized for that 
        machine.''.
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