WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today said the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously cleared the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act. The bipartisan bill would restore the ability of consumers to more easily transfer their cellphones to other wireless carriers.
“This bipartisan bill is pro-consumer and pro-competition. Ease in portability of devices will allow for more competition and consumer choice,” Grassley said. “The Chairman and I worked with members of the committee to address concerns, so to have it clear with unanimous support is a big victory.”
Grassley and Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy introduced the original bill on March 11, 2013. The Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act repeals the Library of Congress’s October 2012 rule that ended the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s exemption for cell phone unlocking and reinstates the Copyright Office rule as it previously existed for the last six years. That rule created a Digital Millennium Copyright Act exemption for users who unlock their cellphone after their contract terms of service expired. The bill also directs the Library of Congress, within one year, to undertake a new rulemaking proceeding to consider extending the exemption to other wireless devices.
A similar bill was introduced and passed in the House.
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