Washington - An amendment to a Senate bill that would have identified the top 25 universities each year that had the most reported notices of copyright infringement from rights holders -- and decrease their federal funding -- was withdrawn without explanation on Monday by its author, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, CNET News.com reported.

The amendment drew complaints from higher education lobbyists, including Educase, which called it "yet another attempt by the federal government to dictate the day-to-day operations of colleges and universities."

Sen. Reid replaced the amendment with a less-controversial version that makes colleges distribute information to students on copyright infringement; the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 then passed by a vote of 95-0.

The House has approved a different version of the bill; it's also unclear whether it will be signed into law by President Bush.

Despite the amendment's weakening, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in a statement called it a "major step," adding that it estimates college students downloading movies on file-sharing networks account for "more than half a billion dollars loss to the U.S. industry annually."

Related Links:
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9749071-7.html

http://tinyurl.com/29qwh4 (MPAA statement)