DMCA

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

This page sets forth all the relevant documents that comprise the official “legislative history” of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which often is referred to as the “DMCA” or as the “WIPO” or “WIPO Copyright Implementing Legislation.” We have included additional background materials as well that may be of interest to visitors to our site.

(Many of the documents are presented in the form of an Adobe.pdf file. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view these documents. Get the Adobe Acrobat Reader free.)

For ease of reference, the materials are set forth below roughly in reverse chronological order, from most recent to earliest. We also have grouped certain materials by subject matter (e.g., the “no mandate” and “playability” provisions), which you can jump to by clicking here. To view the thorough procedural chronology and the bill summary as it appears on the Thomas web site at the Library of Congress, click here.

Reverse Chronological Legislative History

1. Final Text of Public Law No. 105-304, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, as signed into law (Oct 28, 1998) (pdf, text)
2. President Clinton’s Remarks upon signing legislation into law (Oct. 28, 1998)(text)
3. Final “Conference” Report on H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Oct. 8, 1998)(pdf, text)
4. House floor debate on Conference Report on H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Oct. 12-13, 1998)
   1. Rep. Bliley (Oct. 13)(pdf, text)
   2. Rep. Tauzin (Oct. 12)(pdf, text)
   3. Rep. Boucher (Oct. 12)(pdf, text)
   4. Rep. Klug (Oct. 12)(pdf, text)
   5. Rep. Stearns (Oct. 12)(pdf, text)
5. Senate floor debate on Conference Report on H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Oct. 8, 1998)
   1. Sen. Ashcroft (pdf, text)
   2. Sen. Hatch (pdf, text)
   3. Sen. Leahy (pdf, text)
6. Additional Senate floor remarks
   1. Sen. Leahy (Oct. 20, 1998) (pdf, text)
      
      
   2. Sen. Hatch (Oct. 12, 1998) (pdf, text)
7. House floor debate on H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Aug. 4, 1998) (pdf, text)
8. Text of H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as reported by House Commerce Committee (July 22, 1998) (pdf, text)
9. H. Rept. 105-551 (Part II), Report of House Commerce Committee on H.R. 2281, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (July 22, 1998) (pdf, text)
10. Hearing on H.R. 2281 before the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection (June 5, 1998) (pdf, text)
11. Senate floor debate on Senate version of the bill, S. 2037, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (May 6, 1998 and May 14, 1998) (pdf, text)
12. Text of S. 2037, Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee (May 6, 1998) (pdf, text)
13. S. Rept. 105-190, Report of the Senate Judiciary Committee on S. 2037, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (May 6, 1998) (pdf, text)
14. Text of H.R. 2281, WIPO Copyright Treaty Implementation Act, as reported by the House Judiciary Committee (May 22, 1998) (pdf, text)
15. H. Rept. 105-551 (Part I), Report of the House Judiciary Committee on H.R. 2281, WIPO Copyright Treaty Implementation Act (May 22, 1998) (pdf, text)
16. Hearing on H.R. 2281 and H.R. 2180 before the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property (Sept. 16 and 17, 1997)
17. Text of H.R. 3038, Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act (Nov. 13, 1997) (pdf, text)
18. Text of S. 1146, Digital Copyright Clarification and Technology Education Act of 1997 (Sept. 3, 1997)
19. Text of H.R. 2281, WIPO Copyright Treaty Implementation Act, as originally introduced (July 29, 1997)
20. Text of S. 1121, WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaty Implementation Act, as originally introduced (July 31, 1997) [Note: Portions of S. 1121 were subsequently incorporated into S. 2037, which were then incorporated into H.R. 2281.] (pdf, text)
21. Floor statements accompanying introduction of S. 1121, WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaty Implementation Act (July 29, 1997) (pdf, text)

Subject Matter Legislative History Materials

We have developed this portion of the site so that you can more easily find all the most important components of the legislative history that deal with certain critical issues of particular interest to the HRRC. This section provides useful information on these elements of the legislation:

1. The “no mandate” provision
2. The “playability” provision
3. The “Macrovision” or “1201(k)” provision
4. The “black box” provision

Miscellaneous Documents

1. “WIPO One Year Later: Assessing Consumer Access to Digital Entertainment on the Internet and Other Media,” Hearing before the Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, U.S. Congress (Oct. 28, 1999). (pdf, text)
2. WIPO Copyright Treaty (pdf, text)
3. WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (pdf, text)
4. Statement of Administration Position with respect to the treaties
5. H. Comm. Print Serial No. 6, Committee on the Judiciary (Sept. 1998) [Available in print form from the committee.]
6. H.R. 2180, On-Line Copyright Liability Limitation Act, as introduced (July 17, 1997) (pdf, text)
7. H.R. 3209, On-Line Copyright Liability Limitation Act, as introduced (Feb. 12, 1998) (pdf, text)
8. Analysis of Digital Millennium Copyright Act by Jonathan Band
9. Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure, The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights (Sept. 1995) (pdf)