ISRI testifies before Library of Congress in support of recyclers’ ability to unlock mobile devices

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the Voice of the Recycling Industry™, testified today before the United States Copyright Office, a department of the Library of Congress, in support of exempting recyclers who engage in bulk “unlocking” of mobile phones from liability. The testimony was included as part of hearings concerning exemptions to the anticircumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

“Recyclers, such as ISRI members, need to be able to unlock in bulk the phones they legally obtain,” said Eric Harris, ISRI’s associate counsel, and director of governmental and international affairs. “We need a clear exemption to Section 1201 that removes concerns about potential DMCA liability, the risk of which is substantial under the current law. Our proposed exemption was very carefully drafted to avoid exempting traffickers from liability under the DMCA while, at the same time, permitting legitimate recyclers who unlock and sell used phones to consumers who wish to purchase them.”

Current copyright law makes the U.S. the only country where recyclers do not have the ability to unlock devices, standing in the way of advances in the reuse of technological devices and new innovations and competitive uses. The exemption, proposed by ISRI, would allow mobile phones bulk “unlocked” by recyclers to be used by consumers on other wireless carriers’ networks. ISRI’s exemption would specifically allow both consumers and recyclers to lawfully unlock used devices, including bulk unlocking, increasing the public’s access to used devices on the carrier of their choice and facilitating competition among wireless carriers.

“Whatever phone unlocking exemption is granted, it must include explicit language that permits recyclers to bulk unlock for the benefit of consumers and competition,” Harris testified. “We believe our proposed language effectively does that while clearly excluding illegal phone trafficking.”

ISRI was represented by Certified Law Students from Stanford Law School’s Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic. Brian Weissenberg (Stanford JD ’16) and Donna Long (Stanford JD ’16) testified alongside Harris, arguing that unlocking a mobile device for use on another carrier is not an issue that implicates copyright law or DMCA protection.