Latest on Induce Act. Tech companies are pushing for public hearings.
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Tech Groups Want Induce Hearings
Over 40 technology companies and consumer rights advocates sent a letter to Sens. Orrin Hatch and Patrick Leahy on Friday urging them to hold public hearings on the Induce Act, in hopes that Congress won't act hastily in passing a law that would have huge effects on the tech industries.
As written initially, the legislation (SB2560) sponsored by the two senators would hold technology companies liable for manufacturing products that encourage people to infringe copyright. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the bill in July and many of the witnesses called to testify harshly criticized the proposal.
Today's the Day. In response, the committee asked the U.S. Copyright Office to develop alternative language for the bill. Witnesses from the Consumer Electronics Association, the Business Software Alliance and the NetCoalition, among others, were also called on to offer suggestions.
It is the Copyright Office's revisions -- which call for holding companies liable that rely on copyright infringement to make a profit -- that are so worrisome to the technology organizations.
"The Copyright Office has given us a new approach but it hasn't really been publicly examined," said Mike Godwin, legal director of Public Knowledge, one of the groups that signed the letter. "I think that if everybody has a chance to debate this publicly I think you'd see that there are a lot of misgivings and criticism about this bill."
A Public Knowledge rep said the committee could "mark up" some form of the bill as early as next Tuesday, where it would go to the full committee and then the Senate floor for a vote.
The area of secondary liability for copyright infringement -- where a person or company is charged with profiting or contributing to or having control over the wrongdoing -- is extremely complicated and there are a lot of divergent thoughts on how to deal with it, said Markham Erickson, general counsel of NetCoalition. He said the committee should not rush to push something through for political purposes.
The groups believe the copyright recommendations would "create an unprecedented new form of liability of uncertain, but potentially unlimited, reach." They argue that the committee must hold more hearings to consider all proposals -- there have been at least seven suggested, according to one estimate -- put forth by CEA, NetCoalition and others.
"Before any approach becomes law, it should, at minimum, be subjected to careful scrutiny in a public hearing at which novel elements in these approaches can be compared, and discussed to their full implications," the letter reads. "The process thus far has been constructive, but has not resulted in either the consensus of the confidence in a legislative framework that ought to underlie a major and consequential revision to the Copyright Act."
The letter is signed by Intel, Google, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, EarthLink, Verizon, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others.
Representatives of Sens. Hatch (R-Utah) and Leahy (D-Vermont) couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
"It's going to be unclear for innovators whether they are going to be liable legally for particular products," Godwin said. "It doesn't matter what you intended -- you might be liable anyway and I think that's very scary."
The letter also charges that the proposed changes would undermine the Supreme Court's 1984 Betamax decision, which ruled that devices with "substantial non-infringing uses" are legal. Technology companies say this landmark case created an environment for innovation to flourish for 20 years, and now the ruling is "under unrelenting attack." Betamax would provide no defense against the Copyright Office's form of liability, the letter says.
Other objections to the Induce Act have been raised by Downhill Battle, a music activism group. This week, the group coordinated a massive call-in to congressional representatives to protest the Induce Act and register their support for the Betamax decision. The group said that over 5,000 people signed up to call.
"This proposal is not fully baked," Godwin said.
