[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25550-25551]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT AND COPYRIGHT ACT OF 2004

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, in the waning hours of this 
Congress, the Senate has passed legislation that will improve important 
parts of our intellectual property law. Sponsored by myself, as well as 
by Senators Hatch, Cornyn, Biden, and Feinstein, the Family 
Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2004 is the product of many months 
of bipartisan effort. Many of its provisions have passed the Senate 
before, others have passed the House, and the package enjoys the well-
justified support of the many stakeholders. I am especially grateful 
for the assistance and support of our colleagues in

[[Page 25551]]

the House of Representatives as we have tried to craft a broad, 
consensus bill.
  Intellectual property is one of the driving forces in our Nation's 
economy, but if we do not continue to protect it, we will lose our 
place as the global leader in its production. Just as importantly, the 
United States enjoys the fruits of the labors of a multitude of 
creative and talented artists and inventors. Our arts and sciences 
bring not only monetary revenue to the country, but deep artistic 
satisfaction and rewards on a cultural level. The Digital Age has great 
potential to bring more of each.
  Digital technology has allowed producers of intellectual property to 
find new and innovative ways to create and distribute their products, 
and it has enhanced our position as a global leader in the creation of 
cultural and intellectual works. However, the ease of duplication and 
nearly instantaneous communication that make these technologies so 
wonderful has also been used by some to undermine intellectual property 
rights; as a result, many of our copyright-holders are reluctant to 
embrace the very tools that offer so much to consumers and, if used 
legally, to our innovators. Thus, we face a key challenge: to preserve 
intellectual property rights while at the same time promoting the 
growth of new technologies. This act responds to the challenge. It 
bolsters our intellectual property protections while preserving the 
freedom necessary to make full use of music, movies, and other 
entertainment. The act also takes important steps to preserve our 
Nation's rich cultural heritage, and to ensure that this heritage 
remains available to our children.
  The act includes the version of the CREATE Act that has passed both 
the House and Senate. That bill corrects for a provision in the Bayh-
Dole Act which, when read literally by the Court of Appeals for the 
Federal, runs counter to the intent of that legislation. The correction 
will encourage more of the joint efforts between private industry and 
research universities that have proved so fruitful to the U.S. economy, 
our research universities, and the many Americans who work in the 
patent industries.
  It also includes a version of the National Film Preservation Act and 
the Preservation of Orphan Works Act. These two provisions each play an 
important role in preserving our national heritage. The National Film 
Preservation Act, which I first introduced on November 21, 2003, 
reauthorizes a Library of Congress program dedicated to saving rare and 
significant films. The Preservation of Orphan Works Act corrects a 
drafting error in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. 
Correction of this error will allow libraries to create copies of 
certain copyrighted works, such as films and musical compositions that 
are in the last 20 years of their copyright term, are no longer 
commercially exploited, and are not available at a reasonable price.
  The act also includes the Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act, 
which protects filmmakers from an increasingly common threat: the theft 
of their work by individuals who record films as they are played in 
theaters. Part of that provision directs the Register of Copyrights to 
create a registry of pre-release works in order to better address the 
problems associated with piracy of creative works before they are 
offered for legal distribution and provides improved remedies for such 
piracy.
  It also includes the Anticounterfeiting Act of 2004, an important 
piece of legislation that Senator Biden has championed for several 
years. This provision adds much-needed protections to those who create 
records, films, and computer programs, by expanding the prohibition on 
affixing counterfeit labels to such products. Another provision, the 
Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act, enhances the integrity of the 
Internet by creating a rebuttable presumption that a trademark or 
copyright infringer acted willfully if that infringer used false 
information to register a domain name used in connection with the 
infringement. It also increases penalties for crimes committed using 
fraudulently-acquired domain names.
  Finally, the act includes the Family Movie Act, which will preserve 
the right of home viewers to watch motion pictures in the manner they 
see fit. At the same time, the act protects the rights of directors and 
copyright holders to maintain the artistic vision and integrity of 
their works.
  I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and in both houses 
of Congress, for their hard work on this bill. Our efforts here should 
be a model for achieving legislative consensus in this area, and 
others, in the future.

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