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United States · Bill · HR

H.R. 5211 (107th)

To amend title 17, United States Code, to limit the liability of copyright owners for protecting their works on peer-to-peer networks.

referredUnited States· United States Congress· EN

Introduced

25 July 2002

Last action

20 August 2002 · Referred

Status

Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

Sponsors

Rep. Berman, Howard L. [D-CA-28], Rep. Coble, Howard [R-NC-6], Rep. Smith, Lamar [R-TX-21], Rep. Wexler, Robert [D-FL-19], Rep. Keller, Ric [R-FL-8]

Subjects

Discovery layer

Source updated

7 April 2025

Official sourceDownload fileView documentsShare

Summary

Amends Federal copyright law to protect a copyright owner from liability in any criminal or civil action for impairing, with appropriate technology, the unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of his or her copyrighted work on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network, if such impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on the computer of a file trader. Denies such liability protection to a copyright owner who does not comply with certain notification requirements or who: (1) impairs the availability within a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network of a computer file or data that does not contain a work in which the owner has an exclusive copyright; (2) causes economic loss to any person other than affected file traders; or (3) causes other economic loss of more than $50.00 per impairment to the property of the affected file trader. Conditions a copyright owner's protection from liability upon seven-days' notice to the Department of Justice of the specific technologies intended for use to impair unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of a copyrighted work. Requires notice as well, upon request, to an affected file trader or the assignee of an Internet Protocol address used by an affected file trader. Provides for a cause of action against a copyright owner for wrongful impairment, including an action by the Attorney General for injunctive relief in certain circumstances.

This text is taken from the official record. PoliticalRepo does not editorialize.

Timeline

  1. 25 July 2002

    Introduced

    Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

    Source: IntroReferral

  2. 25 July 2002

    Introduced

    Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E1395-1396)

    Source: IntroReferral

  3. 25 July 2002

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  4. 25 July 2002

    Introduced

    Introduced in House

    Source: IntroReferral

  5. 20 August 2002

    Referred

    Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

    Source: Committee

Votes

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Versions

Documents

3 official files

Introduced in House (text)

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  • Introduced in House (text)

    Introduced in House · EN · 25 July 2002

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

  • Introduced in House (PDF)

    Introduced in House · EN · 25 July 2002

    ViewDownloadOpen at official source

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  • Introduced in House

    summary · EN · 25 July 2002

    Open at official source

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Sponsors

Related records

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Sources

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