My last post described how all three branches of the U.S. government are considering copyright reform. And they’re all still at it.
The IP Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee has held two hearings on copyright already this year, one yesterday and one two weeks before that. On January 14, they contemplated the Scope of Copyright Protection, and on January 28, the Scope of Fair Use.
Courts have faced a lot of copyright cases over the past year, with many diverse industries — not just technology, but also entertainment industries like film, music, theater, and the NFL — successfully relying on the fair use doctrine to be absolved from allegations of infringement.
And on the agency front, CCIA recently submitted reply comments to the PTO and NTIA, in the ongoing Green Paper process.
CCIA’s contributions to these reform conversations have focused on the contributions of limitations and exceptions like fair use to the U.S. economy, and cautioned against further expanding copyright’s scope. We’ve also pointed out that all stakeholders need to be at the table for there to be effective and meaningful reform, whether it be the absence of notice-and-takedown enforcement vendors in conversations about the DMCA, or the absence of the technology industry in conversations about fair use, a doctrine upon which the industry heavily relies.
