Congressional Bills Introduced To Clarify
Consumer’s Rights
Digital Rights Management
by Jonathan Yarowsky
NATO Washington Counsel
As NATO continues its collaborative
work with the movie studios in the digital cinema area,
we thought it would
be useful to give a brief update on the current state of
congressional efforts to protect both copyright online
and consumer fair-use rights in the 108th Congress. This
policy debate is subsumed under the broad rubric of “digital
rights management” (DRM). As the online marketplace
expands to include almost every imaginable product and
service – including movies – the concern over
how to protect that content online has become increasingly
urgent to content providers, technology companies and consumer
electronics manufacturers.
For NATO members, this
debate is now not merely a distant policy fight between
other interested parties. Theatre
owners have always been on the interactive “front
line,” having long thrived on the primacy and immediacy
of the theatrical release of motion pictures. The reason
studios release movies in the theatres first is simple – they
are the venues of choice for the viewing public. However,
the equally simple reality is that studios are businesses
too, and are constantly looking for distribution modalities
to increase their revenue intake from films. In past
decades, the advent of VCR and DVD technologies have
been harnessed
to increase viewership; and now the Internet and digital
technology are providing new avenues of exposure. But
with new technology comes new threats to protected content.
And it is this copyright
piracy that remains an abiding issue for theatre owners.
Piracy of movies destroys the
incentive for artists and creators to bring fresh visions
and products to U.S. consumers and certainly denies
theatre owners the revenue stream justly earned by their
enterprise.
As Congress and the private sector consider how to
defeat piracy in an ever-changing technological world,
theatre
owners must be willing to do their part to protect
entertainment product at a cost that is not prohibitive.
NATO members
are already showing their commitment, as evidenced
by their collaborative work in digital cinema. For all
of
these
reasons, we will be closely tracking the developments
in this area during the 108th Congress, as members
grapple with the competing issues of online content protection, “fair
use” of product by consumers and the drive toward
technological innovation.
On Jan. 7, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.)
introduced H.R. 107, the Digital Media Consumer Rights
Act. In an effort to
protect “fair use” rights, the bill would attempt
to clarify the view that it is not a crime to circumvent
a technological measure in connection with gaining access
to a work – if the circumvention does not result
in an infringement of the work’s copyright.
On March 4, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.)
introduced H.R. 1066. This bill seeks to protect a consumer’s right
to make copies of digital content: 1) by specifically allowing
consumers to make a back up copy for use on any digital
playback device, whether it be an MP3 player or a PDA;
2) by prohibiting copyright owners from employing non-negotiable “shrink-wrap” licenses
that limit the rights and expectations of the consumer;
3) by allowing consumers to sell or give away their copies
of digital works; 4) by permitting a consumer to bypass
technical measures that impede their rights and expectations;
and 5) by allowing content owners the flexibility to develop
new and innovative ways to protect their content and enable
lawful uses.
At the same time, private industry negotiations
are going forward to create a standard by which content
can be protected
in both over-the-air broadcasts and digital transmissions.
The House Judiciary Committee has already begun hearings
on these issues, and we expect the House Energy and Commerce
Committee to move into the policy debate very soon.
In the Senate, Judiciary Committee chairman
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) recently promised to work with all
sides to
reach appropriate agreements to settle the DRM debate.
While
he said in a recent speech that, if necessary, he would
try to move legislation, his first choice is to find
a private industry solution.
As these policy debates proceed, you
can be sure that we will monitor them closely to ensure
that movie theatres – which
stand at the crossroads of both content and technology – continue
to grow and thrive in the new digital world. 
