[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 130 (Monday, October 11, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S11291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION ACT

 Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I wish to briefly remark on H.R. 
2391 and H.R. 4077, a package of bills referred to as the Intellectual 
Property Protection Act of 2004. I have objected to the further 
consideration or passage of these bills by unanimous consent.
  From the text of the bills that have been available to date for 
Senators to review, I believe that one part of this broad legislation, 
the Family Movie Act, may actually harm consumers while appearing to 
help them. To be clear, I support the stated goal of the act's authors: 
immunizing from legal challenges a technology that enables parents to 
skip offensive material from prerecorded copies of films and 
television. While I applaud the merits of their stated intent, I fear 
that the very exemption designed to achieve this laudable goal 
simultaneously creates an implication that certain basic practices that 
consumers have enjoyed for years--like fast-forwarding through 
advertisements--would constitute criminal copyright infringement. I 
note that Consumers Union and Public Knowledge, as well as a host of 
others parties interested in protecting consumers, share my concerns.
  Americans have been recording TV shows and fast-forwarding through 
commercials for more than 30 years. Do we really expect to throw people 
in jail in 2004 for behavior they've been engaged in for more than a 
quarter century?
  I look forward to working with my colleagues in this Chamber to 
address not only these concerns, but also the uncertain liability 
created for manufacturers that bring other innovative and pro-family 
products to market in the face of continual threats of extinction from 
powerful interests who seek to thwart their entry.
  For these reasons, I do not intend to remove my hold on these bills 
until I am satisfied that consumer interests have been protected in 
this legislation.

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