AIPLA Comments to DMCA Rulemaking Regarding Exemptions to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies
February 2, 2009
AIPLA agrees that, for certain classes of work, exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's ("DMCA") anti-circumvention provisions are warranted.
AIPLA recognizes that several well-founded exemptions currently exist under 37 CFR 201.40(b) and supports the continuation of these exemptions. Several of the proposals concern classes of works currently subject to exemption, but differ in language from the present codification. Thus, the AIPLA supports the following proposals, to the extent the language is modified to match that of the current, corresponding exemption prior to enactment: (i) Proposal 1, which concerns a class of "literary works" exempted under 37 CFR 201.40(b)(4); (ii) Proposal 4E, which concerns a class of "audiovisual works" exempted under 37 CFR 201.40(b)(1); (iii) Proposal 5D, which concerns a class of "computer programs" exempted under 37 CFR 201.40(b)(5); and (iv) Proposal 6, which concerns a class of "computer programs" exempted under 37 CFR 201.40(b)(3).
The AIPLA further supports extension of the current exemptions not discussed in the published comments.