[Federal Register: October 24, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 206)]
[Notices]
[Page 63626-63628]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
[Docket No. 000522150-0287-02]
RIN No. 0660-ZA13
Report to Congress Pursuant to Section 104 of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act
AGENCIES: The United States Copyright Office, Library of Congress; and
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, United
States Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The United States Copyright Office and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration announce a public
hearing on the effects of the amendments made by title 1 of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, (``DMCA'') and the development of electronic
commerce on the operation of sections 109 and 117 of title 17, United
States Code, and the relationship between existing and emerging
technology and the operation of such sections.
DATES: The public hearing will be held in Washington, DC on Wednesday,
November 29, 2000, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Requests to testify must be
received by the Copyright Office and the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration by 5:00 p.m. E.S.T. on November 24,
2000, and accompanied by a one page summary of the intended testimony.
ADDRESSES: The public hearing will be held at the Library of Congress,
James Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue, SE., Washington, DC
20540, Room LM-414. Any member of the public wishing to attend and
requiring special services, such as sign language interpretation or
other ancillary aids, should contact the Library of Congress or the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration at least
five (5) working days prior to the hearing by telephone or electronic
mail at the respective contact points listed immediately below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jesse M. Feder or Marla Poor, Office
of Policy and International Affairs, U.S. Copyright Office, Library of
Congress (202) 707-8350; or Jeffrey E.M. Joyner, National
Telecommunications and Information Administration (202) 482-1816. E-
mail inquiries regarding the hearings may be sent to jfed@loc.gov,
mpoor@loc.gov, or jjoyner@ntia.doc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 5, 2000, the Copyright Office and
the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
published a Notice of Inquiry seeking comments in connection with the
effects of the amendments made by title 1 of the DMCA and the
development of electronic commerce on the operation of sections 109 and
117 of title 17, United States Code, and the relationship between
existing and emerging technology and the operation of such sections. 65
FR 35673 (June 5, 2000). That Federal Register Notice was intended to
solicit comments from interested parties on those issues. For a more
complete statement of the background and purpose of the inquiry, please
see the Notice of Inquiry which is available on the Copyright Office's
website at: http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/65fr35673.html.
In response to the Notice of Inquiry, the Copyright Office and the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration received 30
initial written comments and 16 replies (to the initial comments) that
conformed to the requirements set forth in the Notice of Inquiry. The
comments and replies have been posted on the Office's website; see
http://www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca/comments/ and http://
www.copyright.gov/reports/studies/dmca/reply/, respectively.
Requirements for persons desiring to testify: A request to testify
must be submitted in writing to the Copyright Office and to the
National Telecommunications and Information Administration. All
requests to testify must include:
The name of the person desiring to testify;
The organization or organizations represented by that
person, if any;
Contact information (address, telephone, and e-mail); and
A one page summary of the intended testimony.
This request may be submitted in electronic form. The Copyright
Office and the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration will notify all persons wishing to testify of the
expected time of their appearance, and the maximum time allowed for
their testimony.
All requests to testify must be received by 5 E.S.T. on November
24, 2000.
Time limits on testimony at public hearings: There will be time
limits on the testimony allowed for speakers. The time limits will
depend on the number of persons wishing to testify. Approximately one
week prior to the hearings, the Copyright Office and the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration will notify all
persons submitting requests to testify of the precise time limits that
will be imposed on oral testimony. Due to the time constraints, the
Copyright Office and the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration encourage parties with similar interests to select a
single spokesperson to testify.
File Formats: Requests to testify may be submitted in electronic
form in one of the following formats:
1. If by electronic mail: Send to ``104study@loc.gov'' and
``104study@ntia.doc.gov'' a message containing the name of the person
[[Page 63627]]
requesting to testify, his or her title and organization (if the
submission is on behalf of an organization), mailing address, telephone
number, telefax number (if any) and e-mail address. The message should
also identify the document clearly as a request to testify. The one
page summary of the intended testimony must be sent as a MIME
attachment, and must be in a single file in either: (1) Microsoft Word
Version 7.0 or earlier; (2) WordPerfect 7 or earlier; (3) Rich Text
File (RTF) format; or (4) ASCII text file format.
2. If by regular mail or hand delivery: Send to Jesse M. Feder,
Policy Planning Advisor, Office of Policy and International Affairs,
U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest
Station, Washington, DC 20024; and to Jeffrey E.M. Joyner, Senior
Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications and
Information Administration (NTIA), Room 4713, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20230. Please include two copies of the one page summary of the
intended testimony, each on a 3.5-inch write-protected diskette,
labeled with the name of the person making the submission and, if
applicable, his or her title and organization. Either the document
itself or a cover letter must also identify the document clearly as a
request to testify and include the name of the person making the
submission, his or her title and organization (if the submission is on
behalf of an organization), mailing address, telephone number, telefax
number (if any) and e-mail address (if any). The document itself must
be in a single file in either (1) Microsoft Word Version 7.0 or
earlier; (2) WordPerfect Version 7 or earlier; (3) Rich Text File (RTF)
format; or (4) ASCII text file format.
Background: On October 28, 1998, the DMCA was enacted into law
(Pub. L. No. 105-304, 112 Stat. 2860). Section 104 of the DMCA directs
the Register of Copyrights and the Assistant Secretary for
Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce to submit
to the Congress no later than 24 months after the date of enactment a
report evaluating the effects of the amendments made by title 1 of the
Act and the development of electronic commerce and associated
technology on the operation of sections 109 and 117 of title 17, United
States Code, and the relationship between existing and emerging
technology and the operation of those sections.
The objective of title I of the DMCA was to revise U.S. law to
comply with two World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
Treaties that were concluded in 1996 and to strengthen protection for
copyrighted works in electronic formats. The DMCA establishes
prohibitions on the act of circumventing technological measures that
effectively control access to a work protected under the U.S. Copyright
Act, and the manufacture, importation, offering to the public,
providing or otherwise trafficking in any technology, product, service,
device, component or part thereof which is primarily designed or
produced to circumvent a technological measure that effectively
controls access to or unauthorized copying of a work protected by
copyright, has only a limited commercially significant purpose or use
other than circumvention of such measures, or is marketed for use in
circumventing such measures. The DMCA also makes it illegal for a
person to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or
otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device,
component or part thereof which is primarily designed or produced to
circumvent a technological measure that effectively protects a right of
a copyright owner in a work protected by copyright, has only a limited
commercially significant purpose or use other than circumvention of
such measures, or is marketed for use in circumventing such measures.
In addition the DMCA prohibits, among other actions, intentional
removal or alteration of copyright management information and knowing
addition of false copyright management information if these acts are
done with intent to induce, enable, facilitate or conceal a copyright
infringement. Each prohibition is subject to a number of statutory
exceptions.
Section 109 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 109, permits the owner
of a particular copy or phonorecord lawfully made under title 17 to
sell or otherwise dispose of possession of that copy or phonorecord
without the authority of the copyright owner, notwithstanding the
copyright owner's exclusive right of distribution under 17 U.S.C.
106(3). Commonly referred to as the ``first sale doctrine,'' this
provision permits such activities as the sale of used books. The first
sale doctrine is subject to limitations that permit a copyright owner
to prevent the unauthorized commercial rental of computer programs and
sound recordings.
Section 117 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 117, permits the owner
of a copy of a computer program to make a copy or adaptation of the
program for archival purposes or as an essential step in the
utilization of the program in conjunction with a machine. In addition,
pursuant to an amendment contained in title III of the DMCA, section
117 permits the owner or lessee of a machine to make a temporary copy
of a computer program if such copy is made solely by virtue of the
activation of a machine that lawfully contains an authorized copy of
the computer program, for purposes of maintenance or repair of that
machine.
Specific Questions: The principal purpose of the hearing is to
inquire into points made in the written comments submitted in this
proceeding, and not to raise new issues for the first time.
Specifically, the public hearing will (and therefore the one page
summary of intended testimony must) focus on the following questions:
What are the policy justifications for or against an
amendment to Section 109 to include digital transmissions, and what
specific facts can you provide to support your position? What problems
would an amendment to Section 109 address? What problems would an
amendment to Section 109 not address? What problems would an amendment
to Section 109 create? What problems would be averted by leaving this
section unchanged? What would be the likely impact on authors and other
copyright owners of an amendment to Section 109 modeled on Section 4 of
H.R. 3048, 105th Cong., 1st Sess. (1997), and what is the basis for
your assessment?
Please explain in detail the impact an amendment to
Section 109 to include digital transmissions would have on the
following activities of libraries with respect to works in digital
form: (1) Interlibrary lending; (2) use of works outside the physical
confines of a library; (3) preservation and (4) receipt and use of
donated materials. To what extent would an amendment to section 109
fail to have an impact on these activities? Please explain whether and
how these activities should and can be accommodated by means other than
amendment of Section 109?
What are the policy justifications for or against an
exemption to permit the making of temporary digital copies of works
that are incidental to the operation of a device in the course of a
lawful use of a work, and what specific facts can you provide to
support how such an exemption could further or hinder electronic
commerce and Internet growth? What problems would it address and what
problems would a broad exemption not address? What problems would such
an exemption create? How would your assessment differ if an exemption
were limited to
[[Page 63628]]
temporary digital copies of works that are incidental to the operation
of a device in the course of an authorized use of the work?
What are the policy justifications for or against an
expansion to the archival copy exception in section 117 to cover works
other than computer programs, and what specific facts can you provide
to support for your view? Would such an expansion of section 117
further or hinder electronic commerce and Internet growth? What
problems would such a statutory change address and not address? What
problems would such an expansion create?
What are the policy justifications for or against
expressly limiting the archival copy exception in section 117 to cover
only those copies that are susceptible to destruction or damage by
mechanical or electrical failure? What problems would such a statutory
change address and not address? What problems would such a change
create?
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights, United States Copyright Office.
Kathy D. Smith,
Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications and Information
Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-27293 Filed 10-23-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P