As expected and promised, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) yesterday introduced his Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004. Earlier circulated drafts of the bill were titled Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act (INDUCE Act); smart move to change the title. Aimed at eliminating peer-to-peer networks, the proposed legislation amends section 501 of title 17 of the United States Code to hold legally liable “whoever intentionally induces any violation” of the copyright law. In his floor statement introducing the bill, Hatch drew parallels to a fictional children’s film villain: “In the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the leering ‘Child Catcher’ lured children into danger with promises of ‘free lollipops.’ Tragically, some corporations now seem to think that they can legally profit by inducing children to steal; that they can legally lure children and others with false promises of ‘free music.’”
Lest you think this bill is the result of Hatch going off his rocker solo, understand that the proposed legislation enjoys broad, if not deep, bipartisan support in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee), Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), Barbara Boxer (D-California), Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) all support the measure. Leahy singularly knows better.
And peer-to-peer networks aren’t the only “Child Catchers” targeted. The INDUCE Act is clearly intended to overturn the Betamax decision (Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc.), which specifically holds harmless vendors for infringing uses by some fraction of their customers because the device is “capable of substantial noninfringing uses.” Hell, it’s not a stretch to interpret the bill, if signed into law, as outlawing email and the web—virtually any technology that’s capable of inducing someone to infringe a copyright is fair game.
Ernest Miller provides the best counter-argument to this proposed legislation, in the form of a line-by-line dissection and rebuttal of Hatch’s floor statement.
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