Stanford CIS

Proposed fair use exemptions to DMCA anticircumvention

By Stanford Center for Internet and Society on

H.R. 4536 proposes adding an exception to 17 U.S.C. § 1201 for circumvention of access control or copy protection provided that the circumvention is "necessary to make a noninfringing use . . . ." The exception would apply to subsections (a)(1), (a)(2) and (b): it would allow access and copying by the individual wanting to make noninfringing use and would allow distribution of tools that provide the means to perform the circumvention if the tools are "designed, produced and marketed to make a noninfringing use . . . ."

Circumvention for noninfringement would only be available to those holding a lawful copy or phonorecord of the work. Copyright owners could block legal circumvention by opting out--that is, by "mak[ing] publicly unavailable the necessary means to make such noninfringing use without additional cost or burden . . . ."

Perhaps sponsor Zoe Lofgren took her inspiration from a 1999 article by Pamela Samuelson.

Published in: Blog