Public Law 94-553, the omnibus copyright revision law, was signed into law on October 19, 1976, after years of consideration and many amendments. Nearly seventy years have elapsed since the last major overhaul of the copyright system and slightly more than twenty years have passed since the current revision movement began. This two-decade struggle has been characterized by controversy, efforts at compromise, near misses (on two separate occasions, a bill was approved by one branch of Congress only to die in the other), shifting emphasis and attitudes with respect to various topics such as cable television (CATV) and photocopying, and, in the final draft, deliberate omission of other topics such as design protection, performing rights, and copyright in relation to computers. There is something for everybody in the final result but, on balance, the copyright proprietor has gained more than the user. The copyright term has been increased, with some exceptions not relevant to the present discussion, to life of the author plus fifty years. Several existing loopholes adverse to copyright-owner interests have been closed or narrowed. Thus, the general exemption of nonprofit performances of copyrighted musical compositions and nondramatic literary works has been repealed, although some specific exemptions of various nonprofit activities, discussed later, have been substituted; the outright exemption of jukebox performance has given way to a compulsory licensing arrangement; most CATV performances, exempt from liability by recent Supreme Court decisions, now become subject to royalty payments; and the so-called