PRESENTING CHRIS MEYER 54

INTRODUCTION 54
I THE COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1976 54
A. Passage of the Act 54
B. Its Abortive Title II 55
C. Computer Software Copyright Act of 1980 55

II. THE FASHION BILLS 56

III. TWO DECADES OF DESCENT 57
A. Chapter 9: Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984 57
B. Chapter 10: Audio Home Recording Act 59
C. Chapter 11: Bootlegs 60

IV. SINKING FURTHER: THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT 62
A. In General 62
B. Chapter 13: Boat Hulls 63
C. Chapter 12: Anticircumvention 66
V. SAILING FORWARD WITH FINAL CHAPTERS 67
A. Chapter 14: Sound Recordings 67
B. Chapter 15: Small Claims 68

VI. CHARTING THE COURSE OF HISTORY 69
A. Two Decades of Decline 69
B. The Depths of Stealth Amendments 69
C. Up Periscope 71
D. More Fashionable Treatment 72

WRAPPING UP: A QUARTER CENTURY REGAINING EQUILIBRIUM 72

David Nimmer recently delivered a lecture that reviewed the history of copyright legislation, from enactment of the 1976 Act to the present. The presentation showed how the Act was well formulated at passage, then suffered from deforming amendments over the course of two decades, but in more recent decades has recovered its original spirit. He uses continuing bills in Congress to accord copyright protection to fashion as a vehicle to interrogate the various twists and turns that copyright doctrine has taken over the years.