U.S. Government Seeks Comments on Copyright Policy

By DAVID CHRISTOPHER BAKER, ESQ.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has announced that its Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) will hold a series of public meetings to discuss copyright policy issues raised in a recently released green paper, “Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy” (“Copyright Policy Green Paper”).  The IPTF issued its proposed digital copyright policy in July 2013 and is now soliciting public comments as part of its efforts to continue a dialogue on how to improve the current copyright framework for stakeholders, consumers, and national economic goals.

Specifically in the Copyright Policy Green Paper, the IPTF proposes five copyright policy issues to address.  The five issues include:

(1) establishing a multi-stakeholder dialogue on improving the operation of the notice and takedown system for removing infringing content from the Internet under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA);

(2) the legal framework for the creation of remixes;

(3) the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment;

(4) the application of statutory damages in the contexts of individual file sharers and of secondary liability for large-scale infringement; and

(5) the appropriate role for the government, if any, to help improve the online licensing environment, including access to comprehensive databases of rights information.

Then-Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke launched the IPTF in April 2010, to conduct a comprehensive review of privacy policy, copyright, global free flow of information, cybersecurity, and their respective relationships to innovation in the Internet economy.

The next public meeting will be held on December 12, 2013 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, VA and the period for post-meeting comments has been extended.  For further information regarding the meeting, please contact Hollis Robinson (hollis.robinson@uspto.gov) or Ben Golant (Benjamin.golant@uspto.gov) in the Office of Policy and External Affairs, or call (571) 272-9300.

And, if you would like a digital copy of the Copyright Policy Green paper, please contact Mr. Baker.

Mr. Baker is head of the Intellectual Property Law Department and a partner at Hart, King & Coldren, a full service law firm located in Orange County, California.  If you would like to contact him, send an e-mail to dbaker@hkclaw.com or call him at (714) 432-8700.