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Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005

Introduced: December 14, 2005 Introduced by: Lofgren, Zoe Democratic · California See on congress.gov
This bill died when the 109th Congress ended
It never became law before the 109th Congress (2005–2006) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 14, 2005
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Dec 14, 2005
Introduced in House
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 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005 - Amends federal copyright law to: (1) include analog or digital transmissions of a copyrighted work within fair use protections; (2) provide that it is not a copyright infringement for a person who lawfully obtains or receives a transmission of a digital work to reproduce, store, adapt, or access it for archival purposes or to transfer it to a preferred digital media device in order to effect a non-public performance or display; (3) allow the owner of a particular copy of a digital work to sell or otherwise dispose of the work by means of a transmission to a single recipient, provided the owner does not retain his or her copy in a retrievable form and the work is sold or otherwise disposed of in its original format; and (4) permit circumvention of copyright encryption technology if it is necessary to enable a noninfringing use and the copyright owner fails to make publicly available the necessary means for circumvention without additional cost or burden to a person who has lawfully obtained or received a copy, phonorecord, or transmission of it.

What's happening now December 14, 2005

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 4536: Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005. 109th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/109-HR-4536/
MLA
"H.R. 4536: Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005." 109th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/109-HR-4536/.
Bluebook (legal)
H.R. 4536, 109th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/109-HR-4536/.
Markdown link
[H.R. 4536: Benefit Authors without Limiting Advancement or Net Consumer Expectations (BALANCE) Act of 2005](https://openamerica.io/bill/109-HR-4536/)
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