48
Copyright Office completely revised the bill in the light of the many comments that had been received. On February 4, 1965, the revised bill was introduced in both Houses: in the House as H.R. 4347, and in the Senate as S. 1006. The Copyright Office prepared a report to accompany the revised bill, and it was published in May, 1965 as “The Supplementary Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law: 1965 Revision Bill.” Extensive hearings on the bill were held in both Houses during 1965, and the Senate hearings continued in 1966. H.R. 4347 was reported by the House Judiciary Committee on October 12, 1966 (H.R. Rep. No. 2237, 89th Cong., 2d Sess.), but the 89th Congress adjourned before further action could be taken.
At the beginning of the 90th Congress the bill, in the form in which it had been reported by the House Judiciary Committee, was again introduced in both Houses: in the House of Representatives on January 17, 1967 as H.R. 2512, and in the Senate on January 23, 1967, as S. 597. H.R. 2512 was reported by the House Judiciary Committee, without further amendment but with dissenting views, on March 8, 1967 (H.R. Rept. No. 83, 90th Cong., 1st Sess.). The bill was passed by the House of Representatives, with several important amendments, on April 11, 1967, by a vote of 379 to 29. The Senate Judiciary Subcommitte conducted further hearings on S. 597 in March and April of 1967. However, it was not possible to complete action on copyright revision in the 90th Congress because of the emergence of certain major problems, notably that of cable television.
On January 22 (legislative day January 10), 1969, S. 543 was introduced in the 91st Congress. Title I of this bill, other than for technical amendments, was identical to S. 597 of the 90th Congress. Title II of the bill incorporated the provisions of S. 2216 providing for the establishment of a National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works. This title was a response to concerns as to the impact of the legislation on the use of copyrighted materials in computers and other forms of information storage and retrieval systems. The Senate had passed, on October 12, 1967, a bill establishing such a Commission for the study of this subject, but there had been no action by the House on this separate legislation.
On December 10, 1969, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee favorably reported S. 543, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. No further action was taken in the 91st Congress primarily because of the cable television issue.
On February 18, 1971, S. 644 was introduced in the 92nd Congress. Other than for minor amendments, the text of that bill was identical to the revision bill reported by the Subcommittee in the 91st Congress. No action was taken on general revision legislation during the 92nd Congress, pending the formulation and adoption by the Federal Communications Commission of new cable television rules.
While action on the general revision bill was necessarily delayed, the unauthorized duplication of sound recordings became widespread. It was accordingly determined that the creation of a limited copyright in sound recordings should not await action on the general revision bill. S. 646 of the 92nd Congress was introduced to amend title 17 of the U.S. Code to provide for the creation of a limited copyright in sound recordings. This bill passed the Senate on April 29,
