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to reproduce abroad would facilitate reproduction activity outside
the United States. That is not the result intended.
The temporary regulation contains four sentences. The first
sentence is virtually identical to the language of the statute. It
states that intangibles (other than certain copyrights) are not
export property.
The introductory clause of the second sentence applies the
general rule that a copyright is not export property, giving books
and computer software as examples of items subject to the general
rule (disqualifying intangibles). The second sentence states that
a copyrighted article exported without the right to reproduce for
external use is export property (so long as the other requirements
are met).
The third sentence expands upon the second sentence. Read
together, the two sentences provide that computer software on any
medium (i.e., magnetic tape, punched cards, or disks), if not
accompanied by a right to reproduce outside the United States, is
export property. By rendering the medium irrelevant, the third
sentence distinguishes among copyrights based upon their content.
The fourth sentence is identical to the last sentence of
section 1.993-3(f)(3), Income Tax Regs. It was therein inserted to
address the concern of the sound recording industry that the
parenthetical was not written broadly enough to include its industry
practices. Specific reference to computer software in the second
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