IPI Publication Press Release
IPI Ideas - # 33
Related Publication Title:
Will Congress Circumvent the DMCA?
Released by Sonia Blumstein on 01/05/2006
IPI Ideas - # 33
Related Publication Title:
Will Congress Circumvent the DMCA?
Released by Sonia Blumstein on 01/05/2006
Full Text
Press Release (01/05/2006)
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Just Released: Will Congress Circumvent the DMCA?
Hidden Dangers in new Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act
Contact: Sonia Blumstein, soniab@ipi.org or (703) 912-5742(Washington, DC): Why are some supposed champions of consumers’ rights pushing a bill that hides its true intentions? A new Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) publication reveals that the “Digital Media Consumers’ Rights Act of 2005” includes two hidden provisions that, if passed, could potentially overturn key legal provisions crucial to copyright protection.
“The bill is deceptively labeled the Consumers’ Rights Act,” says University of Chicago Law Professor Richard Epstein, author of IPI’s new publication, “Will Congress Circumvent the DMCA?”
The two problematic provisions – tacked onto the end of the bill – could not only overturn the Supreme Court Grokster decision, but could also nullify the anti-circumvention provision of the DMCA. In other words, the bill has the potential to blow up copyright protection in the digital realm.
“HR 1201 itself doesn’t engage in full disclosure when it claims to address ‘mislabeled copy-protected music’ and ‘other purposes.’ It turns out that those unnamed purposes are no small add-on, but could eviscerate the already inadequate protection that federal law provides against copyright piracy,” Epstein adds.
“It is the worst form of lawmaking to insert a provision in an addendum to an Act intended for consumer fraud that could overturn a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court.
“We need full legislative disclosure,” concludes Epstein. Towards that end, “Both provisions should be stripped from HR 1201 and presented separately and debated on their own merits.”
The author is available for interviews. Contact Sonia Blumstein at (703) 912-5742. IPI is an independent, public policy think tank with offices in Washington, DC and Dallas, Texas.
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