Wipo Bill Making Headway, But Web Issues Still Loom

WASHINGTON, D.C.‹Congressional passage this session of legislation to allow U.S. ratification of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) international treaties grows more certain as lawmakers prepare for a House floor vote in early August.
At this juncture, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has said he wants the vote scheduled before Congress breaks for recess Aug. 3.
The House vote on H.R. 2281‹the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998‹follows a July 17 markup of the bill by the House Commerce Committee (BillboardBulletin, July 18).
However, insiders also forecast that final agreement in the House may come only after a jurisdiction "turf" battle on the floor between members of the Judiciary Committee and the Commerce Committee. A growing debate over copyright and licensing issues between companies that digitally transmit music online and record labels represented by the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA)‹which was to be the subject of July 23 meeting called by the register of copyrights at the request of the House Judiciary and Commerce committees‹promises to further complicate the labyrinthine process (BillboardBulletin, July 23).
The House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over all copyright-related matters, already passed its version this spring (Billboard, April 11). Its members, insiders say, are not pleased that the Commerce Committee asked to review the bill‹and chose to change certain key provisions following complaints from the consumer electronics lobby and U.S. libraries and universities.
In one amendment passed by the Commerce Committee at the markup session, libraries and universities won greater "fair use" privileges for copyrighted material delivered via the Internet. The amendment calls for the secretary of commerce to conduct a rulemaking procedure two years after the bill becomes law to determine if fair use by students and scholars is adversely affected by the WIPO provisions. If so, a waiver could set the provisions aside.
Two other amendments will allow consumer electronics engineers to lawfully proceed with encryption research and let legitimate electronics manufacturers use "reverse engineering" that often employs circumvention technology.
Those amendments will be the focus of debate on the House floor, and their inclusion in the final bill is uncertain.
Hilary Rosen, president/CEO of the RIAA, which opposed the amendments, says she is nevertheless relieved that the bill has been marked up and is proceeding to the House floor.
Rosen was expected to be among the officials taking part in the July 23 meeting between the register of copyrights, the RIAA, representatives of online companies, and other parties. The purpose was to discuss the complicated subject of structuring new compulsory licensing for online broadcasters, or Webcasters, who transmit and "stream" sound recordings on the Internet.
The RIAA maintains that Webcasters illegally use record labels' material without paying proper license fees, an issue taken up by the Digital Media Assn. (DiMA), a Webcaster coalition (Billboard, June 27). The RIAA recently blocked a WIPO amendment offered by DiMA that would have given DiMA's members a licensing exemption. DiMA has said its companies do not want to be held liable for possible copyright infringement when they make "ephemeral" copies of material.
Rosen says the RIAA is trying to create "a workable system for licensing" but does not want a new licensing arrangement "to limit Internet music distribution options in the future."
Any controversial new amendments to the current House WIPO bill, insiders say, could jeopardize further action on the legislation.
The U.S. is one of 30 nations that must ratify the treaties before they become effective. Thus far, only two, Indonesia and the Republic of Moldova, have completed the process.