Joseph Knollenberg: “I want to thank Chairman Moorhead for pushing this bill through Congress. It is a tribute to his fine leadership--and…”

“I want to thank Chairman Moorhead for pushing this bill through Congress. It is a tribute to his fine leadership--and leadership we will miss when he departs at the end of this Congress. I am very pleased the chairman has provided this opportunity to move this important, bipartisan bill through the House. My bill, H.R. 533, has been included in this legislation, and I want to extend my appreciation to the chairman for choosing to include our language. My bill is designed to ensure that independent service organizations [ISO's] do not inadvertently become liable for copyright infringement merely because they have turned on a machine in order to service its hardware components. As it is written, current law holds them liable when they flip the switch. It places a heavy burden on our workers who need to service our computer systems. And a strict enforcement of this law could shut down the multibillion dollar high technology maintenance industry which provides thousands of jobs. In today's business world, our computer service technicians must have the flexibility to do their jobs without the fear they are breaking copyright laws.”