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Congress passes new parallel board law Just when video game operators thought it was unsafe to operate parallel boards, the lOlst Congress amended the Copyright Act of 1990, making parallels legal to publicly perform. This action occurred on Oct. 27, the day before Congress went into recess- and, ironically, on the last day of AMOA Expo '90. This "Red Baron amendment" overturns the 1989decisionofthe U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (Red BaronFranklin Park v. Taito) , which held that operators could import, buy, and sell genuine parallel PC boards- but they couldn't publicly perform (operate) them on location. The amendment says that if an operator buys a video game PC board, it is not a copyright infringement for him to operate the board on location. He does not need permission from the copyright owner who manufactured the board. A ''sunrise'' provision accompanying the amendment stipulates that the new law does not go into effect until November 1991 . A ''sunset'' provision says the law will remain in effect until October 1995. Operator Bill Beckham, plaintiff in the Red Baron case and unofficial flag-bearer for the parallel issue , says he alone shouldn't get credit for the outcome. "This was by no means something accomplished solely by Bill Beckham,'' he said. "The continued efforts of many AMOA members, including Bob Wilbur, Wally Bohrer , Jim Trucano , Craig Johnson, and Fred Collins led to this victory. My attorney, Richard Stem, was also instrumental. ''I think-and hope-that the practical effect of this new law won't be a sudden flood of parallel boards. Rather, I believe it will lead to more quality kits being made available to U.S. operators. All things be12 PLAY METER/December 1990 ing equal, I think all operators would rather have a good kit than a parallel board any time." Beckham continued to stress that parallels are not the same thing as counterfeits. ''This law applies only to genuine equipment coming from the copyright owner," he said. "It is not an excuse for counterfeits. They are a plague in our industry.'' Said Bohrer, "This is a good compromise for both sides . Frankly, the manufacturers have been shooting themselves in the foot with the video games they've brought to the market. Operators have shown their disapproval by not buying the equipment. ''I suggest that the best thing we can do is put the issue behind us for the good of the industry. The worst thing that could happen would be for the manufacturers and operators to go to Washington again to fight for our respective positions. This would show Congress that we're not a united industry.'' Trucano, the newly elected AMOA president from Collins Music Co. in North Charleston, S.C., had this to say: "The parallel issue that has divided our industry for so long has, at last, a resolution . Congress .. . has ended the controversy surrounding parallel imports, at least for now. ''The change in copyright law to allow parallels was a compromise between congressional supporters of the opposing positions of AMOA and AAMA. This amendment is effective one year after enactment and will terminate Oct. 1, 1995. These provisions were agreed upon by leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees as a compromise to put the issue finally to rest. ''Both AMOA and AAMA felt their members' financial interests were at risk. AAMA felt that to continue to fund R&D in the coin-op market, it needed the protection provided by the U.S . copyright law. AMOA contended that American operators should have equal access to product available elsewhere in the world. What is important for all of us to realize is that we are all in the same industry, dependent upon each other to survive. '' AAMA should remind its members that without the operator, they will not have a coin-op market. AMOA members need to realize that without new games to place on location, the already dismal video revenues will slide even further. Operators also need to remember that this legislative action does nothing to change the illegality of counterfeits. They hurt legitimate video game operators as much as they do the manufacturers and distributors. " I advocate taking the same level of energy we expended fighting each other on the parallel issue and redirecting it toward an issue beneficial to both-like working to keep cigarette vendors in business or advocating enabling video lottery legislation. Neither AMOA nor AAMA have enough resources to put the other out of business, but there are those who would advocate trying to do just that. I fear if they succeed in making us try, we may all wake up one day with no industry to fight over.'' The amendment's passage was the byproduct of eleventh-hour congressional deal-making , as Stern, a Washingtonbased attorney, explains. "It was a mixture of accident, good luck, and hard work,'' he said . ' 'The accident was that Congress was considering another bill to amend the copyright law to stop rentals of computer programs. Our bill fit onto that like an ornament on a Christmas tree.