Citation[]
Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-9, 119 Stat. 218 (Apr. 27, 2005), codified at various sections of Titles 17 and 18 U.S. Code.
Overview[]
The Act consists of two subparts: the Artist's Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005, which increases penalties for copyright infringement, and the Family Home Movie Act of 2005, which permits the development of technology to "sanitize" potentially offensive DVD content.
The Act:
- Creates new criminal penalties for using “camcorders” or similar devices to copy movies in movie theaters. "Camcording" is a felony punishable by up to three years imprisonment’ and a $250,000 fine under 18 U.S.C. §2319B(a) where a defendant "knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy of a motion picture. . . in a motion picture exhibition facility";
- Creates new criminal and civil penalties for copyright infringement involving works that have not yet been released for commercial distribution;
- Specifies that devices or services that a consumer can use at home to skip over objectionable portions of a movie are lawful under U.S. copyright and trademark law (this portion of the legislation is titled the “Family Home Movie Act of 2005”);
- Requires the U.S. Sentencing Commission to review sentencing guidelines for intellectual property crimes, and in particular whether higher sentences may be warranted for infringements involving pre-release works;
- Reauthorizes the National Film Preservation Board and National Film Preservation Foundation; and
- Corrects an error from previously enacted legislation that had inadvertently limited access by libraries and archives to certain orphan works.