Copyright Office Issues 2011-2013 Priorities

The Copyright Office published its list of priorities this week, highlighting area's it will focus on for the next few years. Hollywood Reporter provided a great summary of some of the legal entertainment issues that will be affected.

Among the priorities for the Copyright Office will be looking into various ways to address the high cost of copyright infringement claims with the possibility of a small claims court solution. The Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante, stated an examination of issues which arise in book digitization, illegal streaming, public performance in sound recordings, orphan works, and more.

Of course these issues will affect the public in ways that are, as of now, unforeseen but take a look at the list of priorities below, or the full report here, and don't forget to provide input by the deadlines listed!

STUDIES

Small Claims Solutions For Copyright Owners

Initial public comments are due January 16, 2012. Anticipated publication date: October 2013. www.copyright.gov/docs/smallclaims

Legal Treatment Of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings

Publication date: December 2011. www.copyright.gov/docs/sound

Mass Book Digitization

Publication date: October 2011.  www.copyright.gov/docs/massdigitization

LEGISLATIVE WORK

Rogue Websites

Congress is exploring ways to provide more effective legal tools to address online  infringement of U.S. books, films, music, and software, including infringement that originates overseas.

Illegal Streaming 

Public Performance Right In Sound Recordings

Orphan Works -  www.copyright.gov/orphan

Copyright Exceptions For Libraries

Market-Based Licensing For Cable And Satellite Retransmission - www.copyright.gov/docs/section302

TRADE AND FOREIGN RELATIONS            

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Trans-Pacific Partnership And Other Trade Priorities

PRIORITIES IN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW PRACTICE

Prohibition On Circumvention Of Measures Controlling Access To Copyrighted Works

Initial public comments on the current (de novo) rulemaking process are due December 1, 2011. Reply comments will be due in February 2012 and hearings will be conducted in the spring of 2012. www.copyright.gov/1201

Electronic System For The Designation Of Agents Under The DMCA

Initial public comments are due November 28, 2011, and reply comments are due December 27, 2011.

www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/NPR

Review Of Group Registration Options

The Office expects to announce various group registration proposals in the first half of 2012.

Registration Options For Websites And Other Forms Of Digital Authorship

The Office intends to engage in consultations with stakeholders and seek public comment on possible solutions and decisions in 2012.

Electronic Administration Of The Statutory Licenses

Proposals will be published in 2012.

Recording Notices Of Termination Of Copyright Transfers

The Office intends to seek public comment on additional measures under section 203 that would provide parties with guidance in determining when a Gap Grant was “executed” under the law during 2012. www.copyright.gov/docs/termination

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Revision Of The Compendium Of Copyright Office Practices  

Anticipated publication date: October 2013. www.copyright.gov/compendium

Technical Upgrades To Electronic Registration

Dialogues And Roundtables With Copyright Community

Research Partnerships with Academic Community

The Office will begin seeking proposals in 2012.

Revision Of Copyright Office Website

Development work for the website will be a priority during calendar year 2012 and will include opportunities for public comment.

Public Outreach And Copyright Education

The office has the goal implementing a series of new education projects during 2012 and 2013.

Business Process Reengineering Of Recordation Division

Meetings will  take place during an 18-month period starting in November 2011 and will inform the Register’s strategic plan for this important public service.

Public Access To Historical Records

The Copyright  Office will also engage experts through a specialized project blog beginning in November

2011. www.copyright.gov/digitization

Skills Training For Copyright Office Staff

Another Win for the DMCA

A New York District Court continued the precedent of protecting Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) from infringement as long as they comply with the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's (DMCA) safe harbor provisions. EMI filed action against Mp3tunes.com and its founder alleging copyright infringement. The ruling seems to have left EMI on top but ISP's are the real big winners in this one.

MP3tunes.com was found to be liable for contributory infringements after not complying with take-down requests from EMI for infringing songs, however the court didn't find the company liable for direct infringement based on the fact that users are the ones who upload the infringing material not Mp3tunes.com.

The court did find Michael Robertson, the companies founder liable for direct infringement for songs he personally uploaded but that's far from what EMI was seeking. As explained in an article published on CNet, the outcome for this case will protect, or at least implies that it will, new "cloud" music storage services becoming more popular among consumers. The sticking point is whether the service provider has control over the infringing acts of its users. The court found that Mp3tunes.com didn't have control allowing it to be protected through the DMCA's safe harbor provision.

The Safe harbor provisions allow ISP's to avoid liability for infringement if they remove infringing material when they become aware of it, usually through the copyright owner sending a request for removal. However, this case affirms a long line of cases which continue to show that ISP's have no obligation to monitor the user generated material on their websites. This will no doubt continue to frustrate copyright owners who just want to protect the exclusive rights they have been given from forms of unauthorized mass distribution available online.

Capitol Records, Inc. v. MP3Tunes, LLC, No. 07 Civ. 9931 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2011)

Reclaiming A Copyright

An interesting article in the New York Times earlier this week highlighted a feature in the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 which is beneficial for artists who may want to reclaim their work after years of a record company benefiting off of their recordings; in many cases more money then they, the author, has made.

The "termination" provision allows recording artists to end agreements granting rights to their copyrights and take them back as long as they do so two years in advance and as long as the work was a contractual transfer and NOT a work made for hire. The Record Industry doesn't like it and is indicating they will fight it with an argument that the works are "works made for hire." If a record label is considered the author of a work then the termination provision (Sec. 203) cannot be applied as it only allows the termination of contractual transfers of a work not works which provide them authorship through statutes. Only time will tell as many commentators don't believe that a sound recordings will be considered "works made for hire"  are not likely to hold up in court for a variety of reasons. 

Though any artist would be smart to take advantage of this, the more well known artists and their songs which are still well recognized and known will be the first in line.

Needless to say, this is going to result in more formal transactional work for law firms as various works reach this termination period. Not all works qualify under this provision and this will also lead to litigation down the road when the applicability of the provision to a particular work is challenged.

Read the full article here: Record Industry Braces for Artists’ Battles Over Song Rights