[x-pubpol] Copyright Law Reform announced!

[Joly MacFie]

[How did I miss this? i only found out by writing this post -
http://isoc-ny.org/p2/5505 ]

http://judiciary.house.gov/news/2013/04242013_2.html

For Immediate Release
April 24, 2013

Chairman Goodlatte Announces Comprehensive Review of Copyright Law

Washington, D.C. – Today House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob
Goodlatte (R-Va.) announced that the Judiciary Committee will conduct
a comprehensive review of U.S. copyright law over the coming months.
This announcement was made before the World Intellectual Property Day
celebration at the Library of Congress. Below are his remarks as
delivered:

Chairman Goodlatte: “As we mark World Intellectual Property Day today
in the Jefferson Building, I would point out that the U.S. Copyright
Office first opened in this building in 1897 under the direction of
our nation’s first Register of Copyrights, Thorvald Solberg, who
served as Register for the next 33 years. During his tenure as
Register, Solberg oversaw the implementation of the Third Revision of
America’s copyright law in 1909 that modernized the copyright law for
that era in ways that seem quaint today. For example, he oversaw the
extension of copyright protection to the new technology known as
motion pictures. The 1909 Copyright Act passed through the
Congressional Committee on which I serve as Chairman, the House
Committee on the Judiciary.

The discussions during the early 1900’s over the need to update
American copyright laws to respond to new technology were not the
first time such discussions occurred and they will certainly not be
the last. Formats such as photographs, sound recordings, and software
along with ways to access such formats including radio, television,
and the Internet did not exist when the Constitution recognized
intellectual property. My Committee has repeatedly held similar
discussions about new forms of intellectual property as they arose and
enacted laws as appropriate. Driven by new technologies and business
models, a number of changes to copyright law went into effect in 1976.

Technology continues to rapidly advance. Contrast how American
citizens kept up with the latest news in Boston last week to when Paul
Revere rode nearby to warn the local communities of the British
advance in 1775. Our Founding Fathers could never have imagined a day
in which citizens would be able to immediately access the knowledge
and news of the world on their smartphones as they walk down the
street.

When I was first elected to Congress in 1993, only 2.5 percent of
Americans had Internet access and less than ¼ of one percent of the
world population did.  Then, we spoke about the very few who had
Internet access. Today, we speak about the few who do not.
Technological development has increased at an exponential rate.

Recognizing the importance of the Internet, I was an original founder
of the Congressional Internet Caucus in 1996. Over the years, I have
seen the need to better understand how new technologies impact our
laws. For example, until 1998 online service providers risked being
held liable under copyright law for the actions of their subscribers
over content they had no control over. I personally spent months
meeting with various interested parties in an effort to develop a
legislative solution to address such problems.

Just as Register Solberg recognized the need to update of our nation’s
copyright laws in the early 1900’s to accommodate new technologies,
our current Register, Maria Pallante, has also perceived a need to do
so. Last month, she testified before my Committee about her desire for
the “next great copyright act.” Much of her testimony was about policy
issues that have arisen due to the advance of technology.

There is little doubt that our copyright system faces new challenges
today. The Internet has enabled copyright owners to make available
their works to consumers around the world, but has also enabled others
to do so without any compensation for copyright owners.  Efforts to
digitize our history so that all have access to it face questions
about copyright ownership by those who are hard, if not impossible, to
locate. There are concerns about statutory license and damage
mechanisms. Federal judges are forced to make decisions using laws
that are difficult to apply today. Even the Copyright Office itself
faces challenges in meeting the growing needs of its customers – the
American public.

So it is my belief that a wide review of our nation’s copyright laws
and related enforcement mechanisms is timely. I am announcing today
that the House Judiciary Committee will hold a comprehensive series of
hearings on U.S. copyright law in the months ahead. The goal of these
hearings will be to determine whether the laws are still working in
the digital age. I welcome all interested parties to submit their
views and concerns to the Committee.

I also look forward to working with the Register and the Copyright
Office that has served Congress well since its creation over 110 years
ago. There is much work to be done.”





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