“To amend title 17, United States Code, to provide for the diagnosis, maintenance, and repair of certain digital electronic agricultural equipment.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes permanent exceptions to prohibitions under 17 U.S.C. § 1201 on circumventing technological measures that control access to copyrighted works (i.e., digital locks on software) and on manufacturing or trafficking in circumvention devices or technologies, solely for the diagnosis, maintenance, or repair of digital electronic agricultural equipment (defined as any agricultural product dependent, in whole or in part, on attached or embedded digital electronics to function). Specifically, the section provides that (1) such circumvention is not a violation of § 1201(a)(1)(A); (2) manufacturing, importing, offering to the public, providing, or trafficking in circumvention devices or services for that purpose is not a violation of § 1201(a)(2); and (3) manufacturing, importing, offering to the public, providing, or trafficking in technologies that avoid protections of exclusive rights for that purpose is not a violation of § 1201(b)(1). (Thus, these exemptions bypass the triennial rulemaking process under § 1201(a)(1)(B)-(D) for determining classes of works eligible for noninfringing uses.)