President Bush Signs H.R. 2095, H.R. 6296, H.R. 6531, and H.R. 7084

On Thursday, October 16, 2008, the President signed into law:

H.R. 2095, the which authorizes appropriations for the Department of Transportation's railroad safety and passenger rail activities and for Amtrak for Fiscal Years 2009-2013; and revises statutory provisions related to railroad safety and passenger rail activities;

H.R. 6296, which extends Federal Election Commission's authority to assess certain civil monetary penalties through December 31, 2013;

H.R. 6531, the "Vessel Hull Design Protection Amendments of 2008," which provides separate copyright protection for the design of a hull and the design of a deck; and that the Defense Department's rights in a registered original design will be determined by specified Defense regulations or the instrument under which the design was developed for the Federal Government; and

H.R. 7084, the "Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008," which authorizes webcasters to negotiate royalty rates with copyright holders that differ from the rates set by the Library of Congress's Copyright Royalty Board.