TLA TEXLINE NO. 175
Posted: September 29, 2004
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES NETWORK

CALL TO ACTION: Stop Federal INDUCE Legislation

In this issue: 
ALA/AALL call for action to stop INDUCE– Mark-up Septtember 30th

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The following has been reprinted from the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), courtesy of Mary Alice Baish.

Stop INDUCE--Mark-up Sept. 30th

Calls/Emails Urgently Needed NOW to Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee

BACKGROUND:

Library groups have 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. ALA 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, September 30th. Please contact Senator John Cornyn immediately, by phone or email. He is 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.

You may contact Senator Cornyn by:

Fax: (202) 228-2856

Email: cornyn.senate.gov/contact/index.html (Web form)

Phone: (202) 224-2934
TEXLINE INDEX

TLA-Texline is an irregular publication of the Texas Library Association mailed directly to members interested in legislative and governmental issues affecting libraries. To subscribe--or to offer comments or suggestions-- contact Gloria Meraz, Director of Communications, Texas Library Association. Previous issues of Texline are archived on the TLA website.