Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Chairman Releases Discussion Draft to Reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, released the first discussion draft of legislation to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The Digital Copyright Act of 2021 (DCA) is revolutionary legislation that would modernize U.S. copyright law for the new millennium. The DCA amends key provisions for combatting online copyright piracy, improves the exemptions available to users for circumventing technological protection measures (TPMs), increases attribution protections so that authors can be properly credited, and makes the Register of Copyrights a Presidential appointee and places the Copyright Office under the Department of Commerce.

Senator Tillis is inviting all interested stakeholders – large and small, individuals and companies, YouTubers, and independent creators – to submit redline edits and comments to this discussion draft by close of business on March 5^th.

Comments should be submitted to Intellectual_Property@tillis.senate.gov.

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Senator Tillis sent a letter last week to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration requesting a study of online service providers (OSPs) and recommendations for how to characterize them. The NTIAs study will be crucial to the Senator as he considers which online service providers should be subject to these new requirements, and whether requirements should vary across service providers based on size, scale, and service type. That letter can be read here.

Resources

• Full Text of Discussion Draft Legislation
• Read a Section by Section of Discussion Draft 
• Read a One-Pager of Discussion Draft

Read the Complete Announcement