FAIR USE Act - History

History

The FAIR USE Act is Boucher’s third attempt at reforming provisions within the DMCA, the previous two being the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Acts (DMCRA) of 2003 and 2005. Previously, Boucher co-sponsored the “Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations,” or “BALANCE Act,” which sought to amend the DMCA to account for noninfringing circumvention.

The Digital Media Consumers' Rights Acts stressed the necessity of adequate labeling on media bearing digital rights management (DRM) and similar protections to prevent consumer confusion. Both amended the DMCA to include exceptions for acts of circumvention that furthered consumers’ exercise of fair use rights.

The DMCRA of 2003 included a section of fair use amendments, including amendments to the exemptions described by Section 1201(c) of Title 17. The bill exempted research into “technological measures” from infringement and enabled consumers to circumvent DRM, and qualified that using services for noninfringing uses would not be a violation. The bill also explicitly stated that manufacturing and distributing hardware or software capable of noninfringing uses would likewise not be a violation.

The revised DMCRA of 2005 included a similar section of "fair use amendments", but did not make mention regarding users of noninfringing circumvention services.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) criticized both incarnations of the bill, arguing that the language was too permissive and would “legalize hacking and piracy.”