The Copyright Infringement Liability of Online and Internet Service Providers. Hearing on S.1146, a Bill To Amend Title 17, United States Code, To Provide Limitations on Copyright Liability Relating to Material Online, and for Other Purposes. Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session (September 4, 1997).

This Congressional hearing transcript presents testimony on how to best combat the risk of copyright infringement facing content providers on the Internet. The Internet enables users to reproduce perfectly and distribute globally copies of the digital works that represent some of the most valuable products of American creativity. While some of these digital transmissions are legal, many others are not. The challenge is to balance copyright protection to encourage and reward creativity, while promoting accessibility to information. These hearings address the concerns raised by online service providers regarding their potential liability for copyright infringement whey they are involved in making available copyrighted material. Testimony is presented by: Fritz E. Attaway (Motion Picture Association of America); Cary H. Sherman (Recording Industry Association of America); Daniel Burton (Novell, on behalf of the Business Software Alliance and the Software Publishers Association); George Vradenburg, III (American Online, Inc., on behalf of the Ad Hoc Copyright Coalition); Roy Neel (United States Telephone Association); and Robert L. Oakley (Georgetown University Law Center, on behalf of the American Association of Law Libraries). The appendix includes the text of the proposed legislation, and responses of witnesses Attaway, Sherman, Burton, Vradenburg, and Oakley to questions from Senators. A prepared statement on behalf of the Graphic Artists Guild by Daniel Abraham is provided as an additional submission for the record. (SWC)