Tales of the Sausage Factory: Alert on INDUCE

I am reproducing below a legislative call to action from the Association of American Law Libraries. You can find similar alerts and more infromation at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge.

Remember — if we do not act, we get the legislation we deserve. Pick up the phone and call these folks!

Stay tuned . . . .

AALL Action Alert

September 28, 2004

Stop INDUCE–Mark-up Sept. 30th

Calls/Emails Urgently Needed NOW to Members of the Senate

Judiciary Committee.

BACKGROUND:

AALL has opposed S. 2560, the “Inducing Infringement of

Copyrights Act” (INDUCE Act) since it was introduced by Senate

Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch  and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy in June. The bill is strongly supported by Hollywood and the recording industry because of their concerns about peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks which they say are used mainly by consumers to illegally share copyrighted materials.

If enacted, S. 2560 would make companies and other Internet

service providers (ISPs) liable if their software or technology

“induces” users to violate copyright laws. AALL is a member of a

large, diverse coalition that opposes this bill because we

believe strongly that the solution is not to ban technology

simply because it can be used to “induce” consumers to make

illegal copies.  S. 2560 outlaws technology, not bad conduct, and

P2P technology is in fact used for many important legal purposes.

The bill is so broadly drafted that it has many unintended

consequences far beyond targeting those who infringe copyright.

ACTION NEEDED:

S. 2560 has undergone many revisions, and a substitute bill will

be marked-up this Thursday, Sept. 30th. Please contact your

Senator immediately, by phone or email, if he’s listed below as a

member of the Judiciary Committee.

Express your grave concerns about:

1.  THE PROCESS.  There have been no hearings on what is now the fourth version of the INDUCE Act. Rushing a bill that implies a

fundamental realignment of our intellectual property system

through mark-up and to the Senate floor with no hearings is

wrong.

2. THE SUBSTANCE.  If enacted, this bill could constitute the

greatest threat to date to the innovation processes that the

copyright and patent laws were intended to promote.

         •     The proposed legislation defines “induces” as

simply manufacturing a product or offering a service; therefore

it wrongly targets commerce rather than conduct.

         •     The narrow exceptions it provides to this

extremely broad definition of inducement are full of loopholes;

therefore it will not provide meaningful protection to legitimate

businesses and services.

MEMBERS OF THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Orrin G. Hatch, Chairman (R-UT)

Charles E. Grassley (R-IA)

Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Jon Kyl (R-AZ)

Mike DeWine (R-OH)

Jeff Sessions (R-AL)

Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Larry Craig (R-ID)

Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

John Cornyn (R-TX)

Patrick J. Leahy, Ranking Democratic Member (D-VT)

Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA)

Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE)

Herbert Kohl (D-WI)

Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)

Russell D. Feingold (D-WI)

Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)

Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)

John Edwards (D-NC

If your Senator is listed as a member of the Judiciary Committee,

you’ll find a link to his email address at:

 

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

If you prefer to call your Senator’s office, the U.S. Capitol

Switchboard is: 202-224-3121

Thank you very much!

Mary Alice Baish