AALL ACTION ALERT: Stop the INDUCE Act--Mark-up Sept. 30th

[Sam Trosow <strosow@uwo.ca>]

AALL Action Alert
September 28, 2004

PLEASE HELP US BY REDISTRIBUTING THIS ALERT TO OTHER LISTSERVS

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
Associate Washington Affairs Representative
American Association of Law Libraries
E.B. Williams Law Library
Georgetown University Law Center
111 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001-1417
PH:  202-662-9200
FAX:  202-662-9202
EMAIL:  baish@law.georgetown.edu
www.ll.georgetown.edu/aallwash