Exemptions to Prohibition on Circumvention of Technological Measures

by Janette Spencer-Davis, Legal Editor, CCH Copyright Law Reports   

The Librarian of Congress has published a final rule announcing that the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that effectively control access to copyrighted works shall not apply to persons who engage in noninfringing uses of the following six classes of copyrighted works:

• Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for certain purposes;
• Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications;
• Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program;
• Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully obtained works, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the purpose of good faith testing;
• Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete; and
• Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book's read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.

The rule became effective on July 27, 2010, and the prohibition shall not apply to the designated users for the ensuing three-year period. The regulation appears at ΒΆ12,049.14 (75 Federal Register 43825, July 27, 2010).