IP Notes

"Love the quotes from Berman. Interesting that he's unsure of who will
win."
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"We want to get all the votes done before the Grokster decision in
June," Smith said. "After that we'll probably have to have hearings and
consider legislation."

Berman agreed, saying it is important to act swiftly.

"The winner side won't want to see any copyright legislation," he said.

House panel OKs camcorder bill

By Brooks Boliek
WASHINGTON -- A key House panel unanimously approved copyright
legislation Thursday that would make it illegal to camcord a movie and
indemnify from lawsuits companies that make products that edit
offensive content.

While the House Judiciary Committee's copyright subcommittee approved
the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act without a "no" vote, it
didn't do so without controversy.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., decried the bill's provision that
protects the ClearPlay VCR and other devices that edit purportedly
offensive content from movies.

"I'm voting for it in spite of the Family Movie Act," Berman said.

Berman told the panel that the introduction and subsequent approval of
the Family Movie Act ended negotiations between the DGA and the motion
picture studios over a way to license edited movies to ClearPlay and
the manufacturers of similar devices.

The technology is part of a lawsuit between the Utah-based company and
the DGA and the studios. If the bill becomes law, it would effectively
end the suit.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the subcommittee, defended the
Family Movie Act saying it was but another tool parents can use to keep
smut out of their homes.

"Parents should be able to mute or skip over anything they want if they
feel it's in the best interests of their children," said Smith. "Just
as the author of a book should not be able to force someone to read
that book in any particular manner or order, a studio or director
should not be able to force parents or their children to watch a movie
in a particular way."

Berman disagreed, saying those provisions really take the control of a
creative work out of the creator's hands and puts it under the thumb of
owners of another enterprise.

"I don't want to debate the chairman, but you're really authorizing the
'Profits for ClearPlay' legislation," Berman said.

While Thomson Electronics began distributing the device, it pulled it
off the shelves after a competing manufacturer filed a
patent-infringment lawsuit arguing that ClearPlay stole its technology,
Berman said.

Berman and many other members of the committee voted for the
legislation because it includes three other provisions, the
anti-camcorder provision, legislation designed to make it easier for
law enforcement officials to combat the growing problem of music and
movies being distributed on file-sharing networks and circulating on
the Internet before they are released and renews the Library of
Congress' film preservation program.

Both the camcorder law and the predistribution clause have been
long-sought goals for the entertainment industry. The Family Movie Act,
however, was not. The studios were forced to end their objections to
that bill once it was married up with the other legislation.

The Senate has already approved FECA. Both sides of the Capitol
approved the legislation the last congress, but final action was
stalled because of debate over unrelated legislation.

Smith and Berman said they hoped to get a vote in the full House
Judiciary Committee within a month and a vote on the House floor before
the Supreme Court makes a decision on the Grokster case probably in
June.

The Grokster decision will determine whether P2P technology is a
violation of copyright law or not. Once that decision is made the
losing side is sure to petition congress for relief. That debate is
likely to swamp all copyright legislation.

"We want to get all the votes done before the Grokster decision in
June," Smith said. "After that we'll probably have to have hearings and
consider legislation."

Berman agreed, saying it is important to act swiftly.

"The winner side won't want to see any copyright legislation," he said.

# posted by John @ 6:43 AM