We, the people of the World, do hereby petition the United States Congress to lead the world in bringing freedom to the music that is now under copyright protection. Music, that has the power to heal, comfort, bring joy and is unique to the well being of the human spirit, should belong to the people.

The current laws have created a very hazardous enviornment on the Internet.
Napster and MP3.COM continued to make the headlines, but there is another problem of greater scope. We are aware of at least 32 lawsuits affecting the hobbyists of MIDI Music. 23 have been filed in the year 2000 alone. At last check, a search engine displayed 2,000,000 search results on the word MIDI. How many more people are just waiting in the wings to be served?

MIDI is a data stream that instructs an external device to do something. The copyright department states that it is "fixed" and "stable". MIDI is neither by any stretch of the imagination, therefore we believe it is not even a copyrightable object.

We are asking for the following:

1. Innocent Infringement laws must be changed to protect the public, as well as the rights of the owner.

a. If there is "reasonable" belief that innocent infringement occured, the only course of action at that point should be a warning to remove the offending material. If the user does not comply, then it is no longer innocent infringement.

b. If there is "reasonable" belief that innocent infringement occured, and legal action is immediately taken, it must be considered frivolous, and open the suiter to legal ramifications.

c. The two other flaws that exist in the system are economics and geographics. Cases of this nature are so costly to defend that most plaintiffs have no alternative but to default or settle, regardless of guilt or innocence. The plaintiff is also required to travel to the State where the suit was filed. In most cases, this is not reasonable or practical.


2. The Digital Millenium Act (D.C.M.A.) should be declared unconstitional. Site providers allow individuals to operate their own web pages, but the D.C.M.A absolves these providers of any accountability to the content.

3. Any licensing of a MIDI file must be discontinued. Hobbyists are required to pay 7 cents per download. On a not-for-profit web site, this is unfeasable. Very few sites are actually licensed, therefore they are in danger of litigation.

4. A program or system of increasing public awareness on the internet. The laws have not kept up with technology and need to be revisted.

We ask that you make the intent of the law, the letter of the law. Give us the right to sing a song on the street, play our instruments in the park, share music on the World Wide Web, as long as that music is being used
with NO PROFIT being made.

The Music Relief Association