[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4643 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4643

To provide for the special application of the antitrust laws to certain 
negotiations of freelance writers and freelance artists for the sale of 
           their written and graphic material to publishers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 2, 2002

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the special application of the antitrust laws to certain 
negotiations of freelance writers and freelance artists for the sale of 
           their written and graphic material to publishers.

    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 ``Freelance Writers and Artists 
Protection Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF ANTITRUST LAWS TO FREELANCE WRITERS AND 
              FREELANCE ARTISTS.

    The antitrust laws shall apply to freelance writers or freelance 
artists for purposes of negotiating the terms and conditions of 
contracts for the sale of written material or graphic material created 
by them to publishers, in the same manner as such laws apply to 
collective bargaining by employees who are members of a bargaining unit 
recognized under the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 151 et 
seq.) to engage in collective bargaining with an employer.

SEC. 3. COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION AS PREREQUISITE TO CERTAIN REMEDIES FOR 
              INFRINGEMENT.

    Section 412(2) of title 17, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
            ``(2) any infringement of copyright commenced after first 
        publication of the work and before the effective date of its 
        registration, unless--
                    ``(A) such registration is made within three months 
                after the first publication of the work; or
                    ``(B) if the work is not a work made for hire, and 
                was first published as a contribution to a collective 
                work, registration of the collective work was made 
                within three months after the first publication of the 
                collective work or prior to the infringement.''.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Antitrust laws.--The term ``antitrust laws''--
                    (A) has the meaning given it in subsection (a) of 
                the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)), 
                except that such term includes section 5 of the Federal 
                Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent such 
                section 5 applies to unfair methods of competition; and
                    (B) includes any State law similar to any of the 
                laws referred to in subparagraph (A).
            (2) Freelance writer; freelance artist.--The terms 
        ``freelance writer'' and ``freelance artist'' mean an 
        individual who creates--
                    (A) an article, book, essay, poem, or other written 
                material; or
                    (B) a photograph, graphic art work, design, layout, 
                chart, or other graphical material;
        for present or future compensation other than on a ``work made 
        for hire'' basis, but excludes such an individual to whom the 
        National Labor Relations Act applies.
            (3) Publisher.--The term ``publisher'' means a person that 
        produces any periodical, magazine, newspaper, book, manual, 
        advertising materials, or other similar material, whether in 
        printed, electronic, or other form.

SEC. 5. CRIMINAL INFRINGEMENT.

    (a) Title 17, United States Code.--Section 506(a)(2) of title 17, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting ``or are unpublished,'' 
after ``$1,000''.
    (b) Title 18, United States Code.--Section 2319(c)(3) of title 18, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting ``or are unpublished,'' 
after ``$1,000''.
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