Senate May Ram Copyright Bill
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As early as this week, the Senate may try to quickly pass a bill that would radically change copyright law in favor of Hollywood and the music industry. One provision: Skipping commercials would be illegal. Michael Grebb reports from Washington.
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European Parliament is pushing for changes in how musicians collect online copyright fees.
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The Supreme Court, accepting urgent pleas from the recording and film industries, agreed on Friday to decide whether the online services that enable copyrighted songs
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WASHINGTON -- Several lobbying camps from different industries and ideologies are joining forces to fight an overhaul of copyright law, which they say would radically shift in favor of Hollywood and the record companies and which Congress might try to
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Using video cameras to record films in movie theaters would become a federal crime punishable by up to six years in prison under a bill passed Tuesday by the House.    The legislation, called the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act, also would make it easier for the Justice Department to prosecute Internet users who illegally distribute large amounts of music and other copyrighted works...
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While Congress continues to back-burner the debate over whether it's fair for streaming radio services to be charged as much as ten times their revenue in performance royalties, the US Copyright Royalty Board last week met for a roundtable discussion about whether yet another class of royalties that are already part of copyright law, should apply to Internet radio as well.
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(InfoWorld) - A new bill in the U.S. Congress aimed at protecting the fair use rights for consumers of copyright material would "legalize hacking," the Recording Industry Association of America said. The Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship (FAIR USE) Act, introduced Tuesday by U.S. Representatives Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, and John Doolittle, a California Republican, would allow customers to circumvent digital copy restrictions in six limited areas when copyright owners' business models are not threatened, Boucher said in a press release. So-called fair use doctrine allows customers of copyright works to make limited numbers of copies, particularly for reviews, news reporting, teaching and research. The bill would allow exemptions to the anticircumvention restrictions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), passed by Congress in 1998. The bill is revamped from similar bills introduced in the last two sessions of Congress, Boucher said. "The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before," Boucher said in a statement. "Historically, the nation's copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated balanced between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of copyrighted material. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use." But the RIAA said the bill would effectively repeal the DMCA. The bill would "allow electronics companies to induce others to break the law for their own profit," it said in a statement. Advances such digital music sales, online games, on-demand movies and e-books can be traced to DMCA protects, the RIAA said. "The difference between hacking done for non-infringing purposes and hacking done to steal is impossible to determine and enforce," the RIAA said in its statement. The Boucher bill would limit the availability of statutory damages against individuals and firms who may be found to have engaged in contributory infringement, inducement of infringement, or other indirect infringement. The bill would allow libraries to circumvent digital locks or secure copies of works that have been damaged, lost or stolen. The Consumer Electronics Association applauded the bill, saying it would give protections to consumers, educators, and libraries. Without fair use protections, consumers couldn't use devices such as VCRs and digital TV recorders, the trade group said.
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Lawmakers at the Senate have delayed a controversial bill that would make it easier to sue online file-trading networks because there is too much opposition to it.
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Controversial bills proposed new penalties (including jail time) for copyright violations.
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Congress will have a narrow opportunity when it returns to pass legislation making it a crime to use video cameras to record films in movie theaters, but the bill could be floored by a fight over a federal boxing commission.
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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators  threatened on Monday to override the Federal Communications  Commission if the agency votes to loosen media ownership  restrictions at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
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Internet law professor Michael Geist looks at a copyright clash that could re-write the laws of online life.
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Copyright law doesn't always win the day.  The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Golan v. Gonzales is a major victory for the First Amendment and the overwhelming majority of creators.
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The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether online services can be held liable for enabling copyrighted songs and movies to be shared freely.
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Internet radio webcasters are hoping a Senate hearing today will renew legislators' interest in their negotiations with the recording industry over royalty fees.
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WASHINGTON -- A group of 17 companies and organizations this week offered an alternative to a U.S. Senate bill that would allow artists and entertainment companies to sue firms that market products that "induce" copyright violations.
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The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider whether two Internet file-sharing services may be held responsible for their customers' online swapping of copyrighted songs and movies. -AP