On February 27, 2007, United States Congressmen Rich Boucher and John Doolittle introduced the Freedom and Innovation Revitalizing US Entrepreneurship Act (the FAIR USE Act) into the House of Representatives. The FAIR USE Act (which is different from and should not be confused with the fair use exception to U.S. Copyright law), targets provisions of the 1988 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that allow owners of copyrighted material to protect digital material (e.g. DVD’s) with “digital locks” and prevent users of such material from circumventing those locks in order to copy material.

The digital lock provisions of the DMCA have long been a source of controversy. The DMCA was enacted in response to pressure from motion picture studios, the recording industry, and book publishers. As a result, many argue, the DMCA provides too much protection to corporate copyright owners at the expense of libraries and schools.

Although there is no dispute that copyright owners generally have the right to limit copying and distribution of their copyrighted works, the DMCA prohibits users from circumventing digital locks and accessing copyrighted materials in all instances, including when the “fair use” exception to U.S. Copyright law would permit it.