What Does Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) Mean?
The Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) is an amendment to the United States’ 1976 copyright law to stop music piracy. Created in 1992, this act was designed to protect copyright holders and their copyrighted materials, and also to open the market to noncommercial users. Because of the lost royalties that would otherwise be paid to music organizations for their copyrighted digital products, this act requires manufacturers of digital copying products and software to pay royalty taxes on both the devices and the media purchased by the consumer.The AHRA permits users to record first-generation music (music previously recorded), but under the act second-generation copies are forbidden. Copyright holders are prohibited from suing consumers for copyright infringement when users record music in their homes for noncommercial use. AHRA also requires that digital recording devices be equipped with a serial copy management system (SCMS).