Chapter 459 Oregon Laws 2005

AN ACT

SB 368

Relating to audiovisual recordings; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 131.655 and 164.864.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. (1) A person commits the crime of unlawful operation of an audiovisual device if the person knowingly operates the audiovisual recording function of any device in a motion picture theater, while a motion picture is being exhibited, without the written consent of the motion picture theater owner.

(2) Unlawful operation of an audiovisual device is a Class B misdemeanor.

(3) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section do not apply to any activity undertaken in the course of bona fide law enforcement activity or necessary to the proper functioning of the criminal justice system.

SECTION 2. ORS 131.655 is amended to read:

131.655. [(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a peace officer, merchant or merchant’s employee who has probable cause for believing that a person has committed theft of property of a store or other mercantile establishment may detain and interrogate the person in regard thereto in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time.]

[(2) If a peace officer, merchant or merchant’s employee, with probable cause for believing that a person has committed theft of property of a store or other mercantile establishment, detains and interrogates the person in regard thereto, and the person thereafter brings against the peace officer, merchant or merchant’s employee any civil or criminal action based upon the detention and interrogation, such probable cause shall be a defense to the action, if the detention and interrogation were done in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time.]

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person may be detained in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time by:

(a) A merchant or merchant’s employee who has probable cause for believing that the person has committed theft of property of a store or other mercantile establishment; or

(b) The owner or lessee of a motion picture theater or authorized agent or employee of the owner or lessee who has probable cause to believe that the person has violated section 1 of this 2005 Act.

(2) Probable cause is a defense to any civil or criminal action based on detention and interrogation that a person brings against:

(a) A merchant or merchant’s employee who has detained the person in a reasonable manner and for a reasonable time based on probable cause for believing that the person has committed theft of property of a store or other mercantile establishment; or

(b) The owner or lessee of a motion picture theater or authorized agent or employee of the owner or lessee who has detained the person based on probable cause for believing that the person has violated section 1 of this 2005 Act.

SECTION 3. ORS 164.864 is amended to read:

164.864. As used in ORS 164.865, 164.866, 164.868, 164.869, 164.872, 164.873 and 164.875 and section 1 of this 2005 Act and this section, unless the context requires otherwise:

(1) “Audiovisual recording function” means the capability of a device to record or transmit a motion picture or any part of a motion picture by means of any technology now known or later developed.

[(1)] (2) “Commercial enterprise” means a business operating in intrastate or interstate commerce for profit. “Commercial enterprise” does not include:

(a) Activities by schools, libraries or religious organizations;

(b) Activities incidental to a bona fide scholastic or critical endeavor;

(d) Activities involving the recording of school or religious events or activities.

[(2)] (3) “Fixed” means embodied in a recording or other tangible medium of expression, by or under the authority of the author, so that the matter embodied is sufficiently permanent or stable to permit it to be perceived, reproduced or otherwise communicated for a period of more than transitory duration.

[(3)] (4) “Live performance” means a recitation, rendering or playing of musical instruments or vocal arrangements in an audible sequence in a public performance.

[(4)] (5) “Manufacturer” means the entity authorizing the duplication of a specific recording, but shall not include the manufacturer of the cartridge or casing itself.

[(5)] (6) “Master recording” means the master disk, master tape, master film or other device used for reproducing recorded sound from which a sound recording is directly or indirectly derived.

[(6)] (7) “Motion picture” includes any motion picture, regardless of length or content, that is exhibited in a motion picture theater [to paying customers], exhibited on television to paying customers or under the sponsorship of a paying advertiser or produced and exhibited for scientific research or educational purposes. “Motion picture” does not include [motion pictures exhibited at home or movies or] amateur films that are shown free or at cost to friends, neighbors or civic groups.

(8) “Motion picture theater” means a movie theater, screening room or other venue that is being utilized primarily for the exhibition of a motion picture.

[(7)] (9) “Owner” means a person who owns the sounds fixed in a master phonograph record, master disk, master tape, master film or other recording on which sound is or can be recorded and from which the transferred recorded sounds are directly or indirectly derived.

[(8)] (10) “Recording” means a tangible medium on which information, sounds or images, or any combination thereof, are recorded or otherwise stored. Medium includes, but is not limited to, an original phonograph record, disk, tape, audio or video cassette, wire, film or other medium now existing or developed later on which sounds, images or both are or can be recorded or otherwise stored or a copy or reproduction that duplicates in whole or in part the original.

[(9)] (11) “Sound recording” means any reproduction of a master recording.

[(10)] (12) “Videotape” means a reel of tape upon which a motion picture is electronically or magnetically imprinted by means of an electronic video recorder and which may be used in video playback equipment to project or display the motion picture on a television screen.

SECTION 4. ORS 164.864, as amended by section 42, chapter 666, Oregon Laws 2001, is amended to read:

164.864. As used in ORS 164.865, 164.866, 164.868, 164.869, 164.872, 164.873, 164.875 and 164.879 and section 1 of this 2005 Act and this section, unless the context requires otherwise: