legal

Design by Imagine That

Background

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was signed into law on October 28th, 1998 and added a new Chapter 12 to title 17 United States Code which has to do with copyright law.

Among other things, it prohibits circumvention of access control technologies employed by copyright owners to protect their works.

Specifically, section 1201 provides that "No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title." This prohibition becomes effective on October 28, 2000. In the meantime, the Copyright Office was instructed to conduct a rulemaking proceeding in which the Register of Copyrights will recommend, and the Librarian of Congress will determine, whether there are particular classes of copyrighted works that shall be exempted from the prohibition because persons who are users of those classes of works "are, or are likely to be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by virtue of the prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses of that particular class of works under this title."

recommend, and the Librarian of Congress will determine, whether there are particular classes of copyrighted works that shall be exempted from the prohibition because persons who are users of those classes of works "are, or are likely to be in the succeeding 3-year period, adversely affected by virtue of the prohibition in their ability to make noninfringing uses of that particular class of works under this title."

The Copyright Office first sought written and reply comments from interested parties in order to elicit information and views on whether noninfringing uses of certain classes of works are, or are likely to be, adversely affected by the prohibition against circumvention of access control technologies. ( Mr. Montoro’s comments are number C199 )

Following receipt of comments, the Office conducted public hearings. (Mr. Montoro, testified in Washington, DC on May 2, 2000) After consulting with the Assistant Secretary for Communications and Information of the Department of Commerce, the Register of Copyrights has made her recommendation which was accepted and determined that two classes of work shall be subject to the exemption from the prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. The important one here is Literary works, including computer programs and databases, protected by access control mechanisms that fail to permit access because of malfunction, damage or obsolescence.