Entertainment Consumers Association Puts Its Support Behind The Fair Use Act

The Entertainment Consumers Association , the non-profit association which represents game enthusiasts, today announced their support for H.R. 1201, known as the Fair Use Act of 2007 or the Digital Millennium Consumer Rights Act (DMCRA). The bill was originally introduced in the 110th Congress by Congressman Rick Boucher (Virginia-D) and co-sponsored by Charlie Wyatt (California-R) and Zoe Lofgren (California-D) to the United States House of Representatives. The bills seeks to restore the historical balance in copyright law and return many fair use rights to consumers, lost in the passing of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

“We understand and respect the careful balance that must exist between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of consumers of copyrighted material,” said Hal Halpin, president of the ECA. “We believe in the protection of intellectual property while maintaining consumers’ rights, and ability to lawfully use acquired media for non-commercial purposes. Additionally, digital rights issues should be subject to private sector inter-industry resolution rather than government imposed intervention.”

“The fair use doctrine is threatened today as never before. Historically, the nation’s copyright laws have reflected a carefully calibrated balance between the rights of copyright owners and the rights of the users of copyrighted material. We have introduced the Fair Use Act to restore this balance, and correct the Fair Use disparities created by the DMCA. I am thrilled to enlist the support of the ECA in this effort to ensure that consumers who purchase digital media can enjoy a broad range of uses of the media for their own convenience in a way which does not infringe the copyright in the work,” said U.S. Representative Rick Boucher.

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