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Family Entertainment and Copyright Act


The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act is a federal legislative act regarding copyright that became law in the United States in 2005. The Act consists of two subparts: the Artist's Rights and Theft Prevention Act of 2005, which increases penalties for copyright infringement, and the Family Home Movie Act of 2005, which permits the development of technology to "sanitize" potentially offensive DVD and VOD content.

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act was introduced into the United States Senate (of the 109th United States Congress) on January 25, 2005 by Senator Orrin Hatch (R - Utah), and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on April 27, 2005.

The act provides theater owners and employees with both civil and criminal immunity for questioning suspected violators or detaining them while police are summoned.

This act, also known as the "ART Act", is targeted at preventing copyright infringement of movies and software. It specifically targets two activities: filming movies in a movie theater, and early release of movies and software before they become publicly available.

It permits preregistration of certain types of unpublished works if it determines that such works have a history of infringement prior to commercial distribution. The purpose of preregistration is related to potential litigation protection in view of the fact that it allows an infringement action to be brought before the authorized commercial distribution of a work and the work’s full-fledged registration. Preregistration makes possible—only upon full registration—for the copyright owner to receive statutory damages and attorneys’ fees in an infringement action. Works determined eligible for copyright preregistration are: motion pictures, sound recordings, musical compositions, literary works being prepared as books, computer programs (including videogames), and advertising or marketing photographs.

Anyone who "knowingly uses or attempts to use an audiovisual recording device to transmit or make a copy of a ... protected work... from a performance of such work in a motion picture exhibition facility..." may be imprisoned up to three years for a first time offender, and up to six years for a repeat offender, in addition to any fines that may be levied under the U.S. Criminal Code for copyright infringement. This could apply to merely taking a cell phone snapshot of a theatre screen.


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