Orrin Hatch: “for some time now the Judiciary Committee has been working on issues dealing with copyright protection on the Internet…”

“for some time now the Judiciary Committee has been working on issues dealing with copyright protection on the Internet and the copyright rights of performers and sound recordings. The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act that I introduced was passed in 1995, and my National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act was the subject of two hearings in the last Congress. The NII Copyright Protection Act was superseded by the Clinton administration's effort to deal with many of the same issues in the context of two new treaties, the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO] Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty. These treaties were concluded successfully in Geneva in December 1996. Since then, I have been eagerly awaiting the administration's draft of implementation legislation. To date, I have not received such legislation, and the Foreign Relations Committee has not received the treaties. I know that the administration shares the respect that I have for copyright, and I commend Bruce Lehman, the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks, for the splendid work that he did on negotiating the treaties, but I am concerned that 6 months have passed without draft legislation for the committee to work on.”