The Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act, often abbreviated to just INDUCE Act, is a bill introduced in the United States Senate which targets "whoever intentionally induces any violation" of copyright. The name came from an earlier version named the "Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act."
The Act would amend title 17 of the United States Code which is related to copyrights, by adding a subsection to the end of section 501. The subsection would state the following:
The bill is broad and could lead to prosecution of peer to peer software makers, web sites or the overturning of home recording and fair use rights pioneered by the famous Betamax case. Many critics fear that certain tools used today (such as CD ripping and burning software), and even the Internet and personal computers themselves, could be considered to "intentionally induce" copyright violations, despite their utility for fair use purposes.
The bill is sponsored by former Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Republican senator from Utah, though it also has support from other Democrats and Republicans, including