United States Senate

“ Specifically, the committee replaced the word "phonorecord" with the new term "audiogram". As defined in S. 1623, "audiogram" is a material object in which are fixed only sounds, and material, statements or instructions incidental to those sounds, and from which the sounds and material can be perceived, reproduced, or communicated, either directly, or with the aid of a machine or device. "Audiogram" is intended to cover those objects commonly understood to embody sound recordings and their underlying works. Excluded from the definition are video, multimedia and other non-audio products. ”

“ Until such time as America adopts a workable home taping royalty scheme, artists, record companies, composers, music publishers, consumers, and the electronics industry of this nation will remain at least one step behind. ”

“ The definition of "interested copyright party" is intended to include record companies, music publishers, songwriters, and their respective industry associations, including organizations that present writers and/or publishers in licensing rights in musical works. Key obligations under chapter 10 are tied to the distribution of digital audio recording devices, media, and interface devices. To "distribute" means to sell, resell, lease, or assign a product to consumers in the United States or for ultimate transfer to consumers in the United States. ”

“ In the particular case of a media product that meets the definition of "digital audio recording medium" in other respects, it shall be incumbent on the manufacturer or importer to demonstrate that the royalty obligation does not apply because the media product is primarily marketed for and most commonly used by professional in recording studios. Persons to which important rights and obligations apply are identified in the definitions of "interested manufacturing party" and "interested copyright party." ”

“ The Audio Home Recording Act is an equitable solution that promises everyone a share in the benefits of the digital audio revolution * * * Of special importance to Tandy is the protection the bill would afford manufacturers and retailers from copyright infringement actions * * * This would create a more stable environment for the introduction of new products and formats, allowing us to focus more on marketing strategies and less on litigation strategies. ”

“ No person shall import, manufacture, or distribute any device, or offer or perform any service, the primary purpose or effect of which is to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or otherwise circumvent any program or circuit which implements, in whole or in part, the Serial Copy Management System in a digital audio recording device or a digital audio interface device. ”

“ If copyright protection is asserted via SCMS over any of the input signals, and the generation status of that copyright-asserted signal is not original, then the entire output signal shall indicate that copyright is asserted and that the generation status is not original. (5) Devices that are capable of reading original recordings and/or DAR media, and that are capable of sending digital audio signals that can be recorded by a DAR device, shall accurately read the copyright and generation status information from the media and accurately send that information. ”

“ The committee intends that, where a private arrangement has been authorized that provides for direct collection of royalty payments from one or more participating interested manufacturing parties, the administering entity for the private arrangement shall set aside a portion of the payments it has collected sufficient to settle likely claims against such payments by those interested copyright parties that have chosen not to participate in the private arrangement. ”

“ In the absence of legislative resolution, the distribution of consumer digital audio recording technologies has been subject to challenge in the courts based on claims of contributory copyright infringement. ”

“ A simple numbers code is utilized to trigger the system. The input signal is categorized and materials which are identified as copyright protected are "flagged." The recording device then responds accordingly depending upon the code found in the recording. SCMS also limits the number of generations of digital copies that can be made from analog source material. Current technology will not allow copyright identification in the analog domain. Two generations of digital copies can be made of material recorded through the analog inputs to a digital audio recorder. ”

“ The electronics industry has maintained that the Betamax decision applied to virtually all home taping while songwriters, music publishers, performers, and recording companies have insisted that the decision applies to a very limited set of facts, i.e. home video taping for time-shifting purposes. Consequently the controversy has continued and in fact, has been exacerbated by the increasing refinement of audio recording technology. Seeking a legislative solution Since the Court issued the Betamax decision Congress has considered several legislative solutions. ”

“ If more than 20 percent of the royalty payments are at the relevant royalty maximum, the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (CRT) may increase the royalty ceiling in an effort to have no more than 10 percent of such payments at the new royalty maximum. However, the committee inserted language which will prevent excessive increases in the royalty maximum. An increase in the royalty maximum may not exceed the rate of inflation. ”

“ The Register is directed, after consulting with interested copyright parties and interested manufacturing parties, to issue regulations defining the scope of such verification audits and establishing a procedure for coordination of the audits to ensure that no importer or manufacturer is audited more than one per year. The regulations shall also ensure that verification audits will be conducted only at reasonable times, with reasonable advance notice, and will be no broader in scope than is reasonably necessary to carry out the verification audit function. ”

“ For all of the constituent digital audio input signals, no copyright protection asserted or not under copyright. (v) Exception case. The C Bit has no meaning for A/D converters for analog signals that do not include status information concerning the C Bit and the L Bit (that is, A/D converters in Category Code 01100XXX) . (2) Bits 3-7. Specific bit settings for Bits 3-7 are not necessary for the implementation of SCMS. (3) Category code bits 8-15: (a) Bits 8-15. The Category Codes that follow are established for particular product groups. ”

“ In crafting this legislation, the committee intends to address the longstanding issue of audio recording, and only audio recording. There is no intention to establish generally applicable principles of copyright law. The committee has been careful to make clear that this legislation is limited to this issue and to avoid affecting other technologies or other interests even by implication. This intent is manifest in several provisions of the bill. For example, section 1002 provides only that certain copyright infringement actions are precluded. ”