Bill Sponsor
House Bill 7956
116th Congress(2019-2020)
Critical Medical Infrastructure Right-to-Repair Act of 2020
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in House on Aug 7, 2020
Overview
Text
Introduced
Aug 7, 2020
Latest Action
Aug 7, 2020
Origin Chamber
House
Type
Bill
Bill
The primary form of legislative measure used to propose law. Depending on the chamber of origin, bills begin with a designation of either H.R. or S. Joint resolution is another form of legislative measure used to propose law.
Bill Number
7956
Congress
116
Policy Area
Commerce
Commerce
Primary focus of measure is business investment, development, regulation; small business; consumer affairs; competition and restrictive trade practices; manufacturing, distribution, retail; marketing; intellectual property. Measures concerning international competitiveness and restrictions on imports and exports may fall under Foreign Trade and International Finance policy area.
Sponsorship by Party
Democrat
New York
Democrat
California
House Votes (0)
Senate Votes (0)
No House votes have been held for this bill.
Summary

Critical Medical Infrastructure Right-to-Repair Act of 2020

This bill removes certain intellectual property-related restrictions on repairing or maintaining critical medical infrastructure (i.e., a device or product used to provide medical services).

During the declared COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) emergency, it shall not be copyright infringement for an owner or licensee of service materials (such as manuals or computer diagnostic software) to copy such materials if (1) the copying is incidental to the repair or maintenance of critical medical infrastructure, and (2) such repair or maintenance is in response to the emergency.

Similarly, during the emergency, the prohibition against circumventing technology to control access to a work (or trafficking in circumvention tools) shall not apply to an owner or licensee of critical medical infrastructure if the circumvention is done to repair or maintain critical medical infrastructure in response to the emergency.

During the emergency, it shall also not be design patent infringement if the owner or licensee of critical medical infrastructure fabricates a patented part on a noncommercial basis in order to repair or maintain the infrastructure in response to the emergency.

The bill also nullifies any contract provision that restricts the ability of the owner or licensee of critical medical infrastructure to repair or maintain such infrastructure in response to the emergency.

The manufacturer of critical medical infrastructure shall (1) offer for sale on reasonable terms any tool or information for servicing or repairing such infrastructure, and (2) provide information for making such tools to aftermarket tool manufacturers. The Federal Trade Commission shall have the authority to enforce these requirements.

Text (1)
August 7, 2020
Actions (2)
08/07/2020
Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
08/07/2020
Introduced in House
Public Record
Record Updated
Jan 11, 2023 1:45:29 PM