[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 144 (Monday, October 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12375-S12377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HOUSE-PASSAGE OF THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT CONFERENCE REPORT
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, last Thursday the Senate approved, by
unanimous consent, the conference report on H.R. 2281, the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). I rise today to laud the House's
action in adding its vote of approval to that of the Senate. The bill
now goes to the President, who I expect will move
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swiftly to sign this important legislation into law.
As I said last Thursday, and on many other occasions, I believe the
DMCA is one of the most important pieces of legislation to be
considered by Congress this year, even in recent memory. It has been
over twenty years since such significant copyright law reforms have
been enacted in this country, and this vote has come at a critical
juncture in our nation's transition to a ``digital millennium.''
But all this would not have happened without the critical support of
countless parties who have come together in negotiations to refine the
bill and reach a compromise that best promotes American interests at
home and abroad. Once again, I want to thank all of the conferees who
participated in bringing this legislation to closure.
In particular, I want to recognize the efforts of my counterparts on
the Senate side, Senator Leahy and Senator Thurmond. I also want to
convey my appreciation for the dedicated efforts of Congressman Henry
Hyde, the distinguished Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee,
Congressman John Conyers, the distinguished Ranking Member of the House
Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Howard Coble, the distinguished
Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property.
They have been committed to seeing this bill through from the start and
have been wholly undeterred by other pressing business that has
occupied the House Judiciary Committee in recent weeks. I also want to
recognize Congressman Tom Bliley, the distinguished Chairman of the
Commerce Committee, for his willingness to consider the Senate's views
objectively and dispassionately.
In addition, I want to acknowledge once again the hard work done by
staff. In particular I want to recognize the efforts of Manus Cooney,
Edward Damich, and Troy Dow of my staff, whose long hours and tireless
efforts were key to guiding this bill through every stage of the
legislative process. Bruce Cohen, Beryl Howell, and Marla Grossman, of
Senator Leahy's staff, likewise provided invaluable assistance on all
levels. I also want to thank Garry Malphrus of Senator Thurmond's staff
for his work in conference, as well as Paul Clement and Bartlett
Cleland of Senator Ashcroft's staff for their invaluable assistance in
reaching key compromises in the Judiciary Committee. Finally, I want to
thank the House staff, including Mitch Glazier, Debra Laman, Robert
Raben, David Lehman, Bari Schwartz, Justin Lilley, Andrew Levin, Mike
O'Rielly, and Whitney Fox.
I also want to recognize the long hours and persistent dedication of
the many people who engaged in hard-fought, but ultimately fruitful,
private-sector negotiations on related issues. Many of the compromises
embodied in this legislation would not have been reached without the
support of these parties. For example, we would not be lauding the
passage of a bill today at all were it not for the willingness of the
copyright industries, Internet service providers, educators, libraries,
and others in the fair use community to come together at the direction
and under the supervision of the Judiciary Committee to arrive at a
consensus position regarding standards for limiting the copyright
infringement liability of Internet service providers.
Many other negotiations were conducted and agreements reached that
made this legislation possible, including agreements between copyright
owners and manufacturers of the consumer electronics devices that make
the use of their works by the public possible. One such agreement
reflects the understanding of the motion picture industry and consumer
electronics manufacturers regarding standards for the incorporation of
certain copyright protection technologies in analog videocassette
recorders. This agreement was the basis for the new section 1201(k) of
the Copyright Act, as added by the DMCA, which requires analog
videocassette recorders to accommodate specific copy control
technologies in wide use in the market today. I have received a letter
from Mr. William A. Krepick, President and Chief Operating Officer of
Macrovision Corporation--the producer of such copy protection
technology--assuring me of his commitment to adhere to the spirit of
this agreement by making such technology available on reasonable and
nondiscriminatory terms, which in some circumstances will include
royalty-free licenses. I would ask unanimous consent that the text of
this letter be incorporated in the Record immediately after my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 1.)
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, the DMCA is a remarkable bill that is the
result of a remarkable process. By enacting this legislation in a
timely fashion, the United States has set the marker for the rest of
the world with respect to the implementation of the new WIPO treaties.
As a result, the United States can look forward to stronger world-wide
protection of our intellectual property and a stronger balance of trade
as inbound revenues from foreign uses of our intellectual property
continue to increase. I am pleased to have been a part of this great
effort, and I look forward to the President's signing of H.R. 2281.
Exhibit 1
Macrovision Corporation,
Sunnyvale, CA, October 7, 1998.
Hon. Orrin Hatch,
Chairman, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Hatch: I am writing this letter to you in
your capacity as Chairman of the Senate-House Conference
Committee on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. We
understand that the Conference Committee is prepared to
include in the final legislation to be reported to the Senate
and House of Representatives a provision that requires that
analog videocassette recorders manufactured and/or sold in
the United States must conform to two analog copy control
technologies certain aspects of which are proprietary to
Macrovision Corporation. As you may know, Macrovision
Corporation has been in business for 15 years providing
various copy control technologies to help copyright owners
protect their valuable intellectual property. We license
various technologies to hardware manufacturers, including
manufacturers of consumer electronics and various computer-
based products, and to Hollywood movie studios and other
independent video producers.
We are a small company and have worked very hard over the
past two-and-a-half years to demonstrate to the consumer
electronics, computer, and motion picture companies and
industries that our copy control technologies offer the best
solution to digital-to-analog copy protection for the DVD
format, as well as in its traditional analog videocassette
application. We have worked with the companies and industries
to ensure that compatability and effectiveness are assured,
and, as a result, our technologies have been required for use
to provide protection of the analog outputs of DVD playback
devices implementing the two encryption-based copy protection
systems now in the market--the Content Scramble System (CSS)
and DIVX.
We support the legislative proposals that are being
considered by the Conference Committee, in the form of
Subsection ``k'' and its corresponding legislative history as
attached to this letter. We also recognize the unique
position that such legislation provides to our technology and
our company. Accordingly, we are writing to assure you and
your colleagues on the Conference Committee that we will not
abuse our position in our licenses for the technologies for
which responses are being required by this legislation.
Specifically, we are willing to assure you and the Committee
that any licenses that may be necessary to implement these
technologies will be offered on reasonable and non-
discriminatory terms, as that phrase is commonly used and
understood in industry standards processes. We will modify
certain terms and conditions of our baseline analog copy
control license agreements--and offer the same modifications
to existing licensees--if this legislation is enacted in
order to eliminate our contractual requirements that analog
videocassette recorders manufactured in or sold in the United
States respond to our technologies and that certain display
device manufacturers ensure that their products are
compatible with our technologies, in the sense of not
displaying visible artifacts or distortions in the authorized
playback of material protected using our analog copy control
technologies. The first of these requirements will now be the
subject of the statutory requirement that is the subject of
the legislative provision.
The second requirement will now be the subject of an inter-
industry forum on compatability issues, that will afford all
interested parties an opportunity to work together to resolve
such issues as they arise. We hasten to add that we do not
expect such problems to arise, since our technologies have
been proven to the satisfaction of the manufacturers that
they do not cause problems, and we do not expect to make any
material modifications to them in the future. Manufacturers
already know what the technologies are and can test their
products before finalizing their design. We commit to you and
your colleagues that any changes that are made to our
technologies will be the result of inter and intra industry
consensus on the changes before they are made. Nevertheless,
in order to reassure everyone involved, we are prepared to
cooperate in the
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inter-industry forum that is being established. We have been
assured that this forum will be established within six months
after passage of this legislation and will include equal
representation from the consumer electronics, computer, and
movie studio industries.
With regard to our licensing terms, we commit to you and
your colleagues that we will from the date of enactment
adhere to the following points--which are essentially
reflective of our current licensing policies. First, as
stated above, our proprietary analog copy protection
technology will be offered on reasonable and non-
discriminatory terms, as that phrase is used in the normal
industry parlance. Second, in relation to certain specific
circumstances:
(a) Manufacturers of consumer-grade analog VHS and 8mm
analog video cassette recorders/camcorders that are required
by the legislation to conform to our proprietary analog copy
protection technologies (and any new format analog
videocassette recorder that is covered by paragraph (1)(A)(v)
of the legislation and thereby required to conform to our
proprietary analog copy control technologies) will be
provided royalty-free licenses for the use of our relevant
intellectual property in any device that plays back packaged,
prerecorded content, or that reads and responds to or
generates or carries forward the elements of these
technologies associated with such content;
(b) In the same circumstances as described in (a), other
manufacturers of devices that generate, carry forward, and/or
read and respond to the elements of these technologies will
be provided with licenses carrying only modest fees (in the
current dollar range of $25,000 initial payment and lesser
amounts as recurring annual fees);
(c) Manufacturers of other products, including set-top-
boxes and other devices that perform similar functions
(including integrated devices containing such functionality),
will be provided with licenses on reasonable and non-
discriminatory terms, including royalty and other
considerations.
In the absence of the specific attached legislative and
explanatory language, Macrovision would not have made the
above referenced commitments regarding our licensing terms
and our contract clauses on VCR responsiveness and
playability issues. We very much appreciate the work of you
and your colleagues in helping to draft and, hopefully,
ultimately enact this legislation. We also appreciate and
acknowledge the leadership and cooperation of certain
companies and individuals in getting this proposal to this
point.
I understand that this letter will be incorporated into the
official report of the Conference Committee and that the
Conferees are relying on our representation herein. If you or
other members of the Conference have any questions or need
any clarification on any point, please do not hesitate to
contact me, or have one of your staff contact me.
Sincerely,
William A. Krepick,
President/COO.
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