U.S. Department of Commerce to Seek Stakeholder Input on Digital Copyright Policy

September 16, 2013 – Sylvia Hunter, SSP Communications Committee, University of Toronto Press – The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a green paper on copyright policy titled, “Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy,” in July and will soon be seeking stakeholder input on the future of digital copyright policy in the United States.

The green paper, released by the department’s  Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF), proposes to establish a dialogue with multiple stakeholders on how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice and takedown system can be improved, as well as to solicit public comment and to convene roundtables on the following policy topics:

• The legal framework for creating remixes.
• The relevance and scope of the “first sale” doctrine in the digital environment.
• Whether and how statutory damages should be applied with respect to individual file sharers and secondary liability for large-scale online infringement of copyright.
• What role, if any, is appropriate for the government to help improve the online licensing environment, including access to comprehensive public and private databases of rights information.

In a guest post on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office blog, Shira Perlmutter, Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs at the USPTO, explains that the IPTF has the goal of “ensuring a meaningful and effective copyright system that continues to provide the necessary incentives for creative expression, preserving the technological innovation and free flow of information made possible by the Internet, and delivering creative content in the broadest possible fashion to consumers.” The green paper also seeks to provide an objective review, describing changes that have already occurred, identifying areas where more work needs to be done, and suggesting ways that the work can move forward. Perlmutter also notes that the copyright system and open Internet policies are often regarded as opposing forces, but adds that the IPTF “do[es] not believe such a dichotomy is necessary or appropriate.” The task force hopes to receive input from all groups that are affected—creators, distributors, and consumers of digital works. A formal call for recommendations will be forthcoming from the IPTF.

In related copyright news, Canadian novelist and blogger John Degen asks who gets hurt by bad advice about copyright and fair use—the advisor, or the advised? Referencing university “fair dealing” policies and the Writers’ Union of Canada’s recent Educational Copying Survey, Degen dissects the current state of play with respect to course-pack copying at Canadian post-secondary institutions.