US law seeks to stamp out all copyright abuses

A forthcoming bill in the US Senate would, if passed, dramatically reshape copyright law by prohibiting file-trading networks and some consumer electronics devices on the grounds that they could be used for unlawful purposes.

The proposal, called the Induce Act, says "whoever intentionally induces any violation" of copyright law would be legally liable for those violations, a prohibition that would effectively ban file-swapping networks such as Kazaa and Morpheus. In the draft bill seen by silicon.com's sister site News.com, inducement is defined as "aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures" and can be punished with civil fines and, in some circumstances, lengthy prison terms.

The bill represents the latest legislative attempt by influential copyright holders to address what they view as the growing threat of peer-to-peer networks rife with pirated music, movies and software. As file-swapping networks grow in popularity, copyright lobbyists are becoming increasingly creative in their legal responses, which include proposals for Justice Department lawsuits against infringers and action at the state level.

Though the Induce Act is not yet public, critics are already attacking it as an unjustified expansion of copyright law that seeks to regulate new technologies out of existence.

Jessica Litman, a professor at Wayne State University in the US, who specialises in copyright law, said: "They're trying to make it legally risky to introduce technologies that could be used for copyright infringement. That's why it's worded so broadly."

Litman said that under the Induce Act, products like ReplayTV, peer-to-peer networks and even the humble VCR could be outlawed because they can potentially be used to infringe copyrights. Websites such as Tucows that host peer-to-peer clients such as the Morpheus software are also at risk for "inducing" infringement, Litman warned.

The much criticised Recording Industry Association of America declined to comment until the proposal was officially introduced.

Philip Corwin, a lobbyist for Sharman Networks, which distributes the Kazaa client, said: "It's simple and it's deadly. If you make a product that has dual uses, infringing and not infringing, and you know there's infringement, you're liable."

Declan McCullagh writes for News.com