US Introduces New Copyright Exemptions

The US Library of Congress has announced six new exemptions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) – including circumventing protected DVDs and phones in some instances.

The DMCA regulates how copyright material is dealt with in digital and online spheres, and includes provisions that prohibit circumvention of certain technological protection measures (TPMs) used to protect copyright works.
 
However, the DMCA allows particular classes of works to be exempted if TPMs are found to have an adverse effect on a user’s ability to make non-infringing uses of those works. The US Library of Congress reviews and determines which classes are to be exempted every three years, following public consultations and hearings.
 
The current determinations were released on July 26th 2010, and the exempted classes are:

• DVDs: Users will be allowed to circumvent protected DVDs if using a short portion of a motion picture for criticism or comment and if the use fits within one of three contexts: (i) educational use in universities by professors and film and media students, (ii) documentary filmmaking, or (iii) in non-commercial videos.

• Jailbreaking: TPMs on phones (such as Apple’s iPhone) that lock the device to a single platform can be circumvented in order to run non-infringing third-party software.

• Carriers: Users will be able to circumvent protection on their phones where it locks a phone to a particular carrier.

• Video Games: Video game TPMs can be circumvented if done for the good faith purpose of testing or investigating security flaws. Information gathered during testing cannot be used to infringe copyright and must be used within a security-promotion context.

• Dongles: Dongles (hardware keys that are used to protect software being run on unauthorised machines) can be circumvented if they are no longer commercially available or obsolete.

• E-Books: If no audio version is available, the TPMs in e-books can be circumvented for the purpose of having the text converted to speech/read-aloud formats.

 
These exemptions will be valid only until the next review - in three years’ time. Stakeholders must re-apply if they wish the exceptions to continue in the next determination.
 
For more information, see the US Library of Congress website at: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/