Posts Tagged: "U.S. Copyright Office"

Recent news reports about choreographer JaQuel Knight’s efforts to copyright some of his iconic dance routines, such as Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” are a reminder that such works face steep hurdles when it comes to qualifying for protection. From ballet to breakdance and Swan Lake to Saturday Night Fever, dance is part of every culture—and a surprisingly frequent source of intellectual property conflict. While works of dance clearly are eligible for copyright protection under Section 102(a)(4) of the Copyright Act, determining which dances meet the standard—and which have two left feet—has been tricky and has resulted in a number of high-profile disputes in recent years. However, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated copyright dispute may provide important guidance in subsequent dance-related copyright litigation.

The United States Copyright Office recently released a New Group Registration Option for Short Online Literary Works (GRTX), which would allow an applicant to register up to 50 short online literary works with one application and one filing fee. A group registration covers the copyrightable text in each literary work submitted with the group registration, such that the copyright owner may seek a separate award for each work infringed.

On June 22, the U.S. Copyright Office published a request for petitions in the Federal Register, which officially kicked off the eighth triennial rulemaking process for temporary exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). While Section 1201 generally prohibits the circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs), which copyright owners use to prevent unauthorized access to and copying of protected works, the law instructs the Copyright Office to grant temporary exemptions every three years allowing for the circumvention of TPMs against unauthorized access in specific circumstances.

On June 3, the U.S. Copyright Office published a Federal Register notice regarding a study it is initiating to “evaluate the degree to which copyright owners are experiencing infringement by state entities without adequate remedies under state law, as well as the extent to which such infringements appear to be based on intentional or reckless conduct.” The Office requested public input in the form of written comments on or before August 3, 2020 to assist the Office in preparing a report to Congress on the study.

On May 21, the U.S. Copyright Office published a report on Section 512 of Title 17 of the U.S. Code, which governs limitations on copyright liability to materials published online. Safe harbor provisions in Section 512, which were enacted as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), have allowed online service providers to operate tech platforms without facing liability for infringing content posted on those platforms. While the Copyright Office acknowledges that the careful balance intended to be struck by Section 512 has become unbalanced, to the detriment of rights holders, the report only recommends that Congress fine-tune certain aspects of Section 512 to restore this balance of competing interests.

The American Law Institute (ALI) has submitted a second response stemming from a letter sent by members of Congress last year expressing serious concerns over ALI’s Restatement of Copyright project. In December 2019, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Representatives Ben Cline (R-VA), Martha Roby (R-AL), Theodore Deutch (R-FL) and Harley Rouda (D-CA) sent a letter to ALI stating that laws created through federal statute like copyright are “ill-suited for treatment in a Restatement” and threaten to muddle the law. The U.S. Copyright Office, the American Bar Association (IP Law Section) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office have raised similar concerns.

Maria Strong currently serves as the Acting Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. She was appointed to the position effective January 5, 2020. Strong leads a 400-plus person workforce and is responsible for all administrative functions and duties under Title 17 of the U.S. Code, unless otherwise specified. Strong is on detail from her position as Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Policy and International Affairs, the office that focuses on domestic and international policy analyses, legislative support, and working with other agencies on IP and trade matters. With IP champions in Congress turning their attention away from patent reform and toward copyright reform this year, IPWatchdog took the opportunity to interview Strong shortly after she assumed her new role to learn more about the agency’s focus and plans. Senators like Senate Judiciary Committee, IP Subcommittee Chair Thom Tillis (R-NC) are laser-focused on modernization efforts, and Strong made it clear that is a major priority.   

In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court finally unequivocally answered the question about whether copyright owners need to receive a Registration Certificate from the Copyright Office before filing suit for infringement and thus resolved a difference of opinion among various regional circuit courts. (Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC. Since this decision was issued, federal district courts have cited it in at least 63 decisions. What should artists, writers, and businesses do now to protect their creative work? How should attorneys alter the standard advice they give their clients? Let’s start with a review of what the ruling actually says.

In August, amid growing concern that the U.S. Copyright Office has become antiquated and out of touch with the needs of modern users, Senator Thom Tillis sent a letter to Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple asking them to answer a number of questions relating to the timeline for their efforts to modernize the Copyright Office. Hayden and Temple submitted their responses Monday, noting that the modernization effort is “one of the most significant operational undertakings the Library and Copyright Office face in the near term.” In their letter to Tillis, Hayden and Temple explained that, while efforts are already underway, including the expected launch of a limited-pilot version of the new Copyright Recordation system by Spring of 2020, modernization “remains an ambitious and technologically sophisticated undertaking.”

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) sent a letter to Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden and Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple on Tuesday, August 27, asking that they help him to “speed up the modernization process” for the U.S. Copyright Office. Tillis posed seven pointed questions to Hayden and Temple, which in part implied that their agencies’ reliance on legacy contractors and internal staff to implement the pending IT updates could be the source of proposed timelines that Tillis characterized as “unnecessarily long in the age of agile IT.”

That an open government is inseparable from a free society is one of the basic tenets supporting American democracy. If people are to be ruled by laws, they have a fundamental right to access those laws. To that end, in 17 U.S.C. § 105, the U.S. Copyright Office makes clear that binding and official government edicts may not be copyrighted by the United States government. However, the Supreme Court has not addressed the issue as it pertains to state governments since a series of cases in the late 1800s. But are there limits to that access, or are there certain situations in which government edicts may, in fact, fall under the scope of copyright protection? The U.S. Supreme Court hopefully will provide some clarity on this issue when it hears the case Georgia, et al. v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc. in the upcoming term.

This week on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives is in recess but in the Senate, committee hearings will focus on the rescheduled oversight hearing for the U.S. Copyright Office, regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies and blockchain, and implementation of positive train control technologies. Elsewhere in Washington, D.C., the Brookings Institution will look at international threats to American space security while the Center for Strategic and International Studies will host an event with multiple panels exploring innovation and security issues in 5G networks. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office also hosted an event in Alexandria, VA, discussing the agency’s trademark auditing program.

This week features a busy schedule of hearings on Capitol Hill involving technology, innovation and intellectual property topics. In the House of Representatives, the House Financial Services Committee will get their chance to vet Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency, while other hearings focus on wireless spectrum policy, antitrust issues posed by Internet platforms, as well as issues facing the U.S. trademark system, including counterfeits and register cluttering. In the Senate, Google censorship, oversight of the U.S. Copyright Office and NASA’s plans to send a manned mission to Mars will be under the microscope. Elsewhere, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation explores the current state of robotics and how they can help American productivity.