To the music and movie worlds, a case now before the Supreme Court has huge implications. And so does a Virginia congressman's bill that would guarantee people the right to make copies of their music and movies.

Rep. Rick Boucher's Digital Media Consumer Rights Act would, in a sense, codify the court's 1984 so-called "Betamax decision." That ruling held that Sony's Betamax VCR was legal even though people could use it to copy and pirate movies and television shows.

It also introduced an important concept: "substantial noninfringing uses." In other words, even if a device such as a VCR could be used to do something illegal, the manufacturer could not be held responsible, provided there were plenty of legal ways to use it.

"A hammer is great for building houses, but it can also be used for breaking into houses," said Boucher, D-Abingdon. "You don't punish the guy who made the hammer when the burglar uses it to break in."

The Betamax ruling, Boucher said, opened the gates for much of the consumer technology we use today: VCRs, DVD players, TiVo, iPods and a host of other devices.

That ruling is now being reviewed thanks to a new case called Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, which the Supreme Court agreed to hear after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Grokster's favor in August 2004.

The Grokster camp - and Boucher - are concerned that overturning or limiting Betamax would have a chilling effect on technology innovations. Boucher's bill is designed to prevent that.

"The Betamax decision provided something else that was very important," Boucher said. "Legal certainty to the manufacturers of recording devices that no one was going to second guess their intent, no one was going to ask them any questions about why they manufactured a particular device as long as the device is capable of a substantial noninfringing use.

"Had it not been for that legal certainty created in the Betamax decision 20 years ago, we would not have had the hugely successful home-recording and computer industries that has so enriched the economy of the United States," Boucher said. "You can make a long list of commonly used products that we would not have today had it not been for the Betamax decision." Those include, he said, VHS machines, digital video recorders, even cassette decks.

"I don't believe in punishing the manufacturer of a useful device just because someone might be able to buy that device and use it illegally," Boucher said.

This is where his bill comes in. It would make it the law of the land that A) it is legal to circumvent the copy protection on your digital content if it's for a legitimate purpose - making a copy to play in the car, for example; and B) it is legal to make or distribute any product that is "capable of enabling significant noninfringing use of a copyrighted work" - that is, selling VCRs or P2P software would still be legal.

Piracy, of course, would not be, and entertainment companies would still have recourse against copyright infringers - but they could not, as the Electronic Frontier Foundation put it in a statement, "sue out of existence any technology that appears to be a threat, even if it passes the Betamax test."

Boucher said he is concerned about consumers losing the rights the Betamax ruling affords them, and about manufacturers losing the ability to create new technologies if they are forced to look over their shoulders at potential lawsuits.

"Literally the content creator is empowered by the law ... to abolish fair use," Boucher said, because the law - specifically the Digital Millennium Copyright Act - gives them the right to "absolutely prohibit anyone from accessing that work in order to make copies for any purpose."

That's just the idea the Motion Picture Association of America supports; it doesn't want to allow any copying of content, period, said an MPAA executive. "The problem with that concept is that it's a pretty short step to wanton piracy," said John Feehery, executive vice president.

So consumers should not be allowed to make any copies, even as a DVD backup? "That's right," Feehery said. "That's why you buy a copy and you give it to your friends and they all use it."

That's because, Feehery said, people don't stop with one copy. "It's kind of like a Lays potato chip," he explained. "Can you really only make one? Will you only make one?"

And that attitude, said Boucher, steps too hard on the toes of consumers and fair use, because he doesn't expect an entertainment industry battling illegal file sharing to pull any punches.

"I have no doubts that the content community will fully exercise the power given to them under the DMCA," he said. "They might not do it overnight, but over time they most certainly will do it. They certainly have fully exercised every legal right given to them in the past. There's no reason to think they will not do it in the future."