cheverij's blog

On May 14, 2012, the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee sponsored the discussion, “New Internet Privacy Legislation: What the White House, Federal Trade Commission and the European Commission are Recommending.”   

On Wednesday, May 9, 2012, the Senate Judiciary Committee held its third oversight hearing to discuss intellectual property enforcement since the establishment of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.   The witness before the committee was Victoria A. Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.   One of the primary roles of this position is to coordinate the work being done across government agencies, including the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Trade Representative, to combat intellectual property theft.

Data that are generated by research and other scholarly activities are the lifeblood of the research enterprise.  These research investigators and their institutions have responsibilities and obligations regarding access to and retention of these research data. Recognizing the importance of these research data as a valuable resource that needs to be managed properly is key to maximizing the return on the research investment.

The topic of orphan works and what to do about them keeps surfacing for discussion in higher education circles.  Why?  Digital libraries containing millions of orphan, out-of-print, and public domain works would vastly expand the scope of research and education.  They would also open up many opportunities for discovery and new knowledge.  Digital copies of such volumes would not only increase access to the works themselves, but would also make academic research available to larger audiences and would go against the tradition of more restricted, and often expensive, access to scholarly work.  Pamela Samuelson, in a Los Angeles Times op-ed, wrote:

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing on “The Emergence of Online Video: Is It the Future?” on April 24, 2012.  The hearing explored the migration of viewing habits from traditional television to Internet and broadband-enabled video content.  It also examined the role that disruptive technologies play in facilitating this transition, and the business and legal models that foster the growth of this sector.

The Supreme Court agreed on April 16, 2012 to hear a case on whether an overseas purchaser of a copyrighted work may resell it in the U.S. without the copyright holder’s permission. The petitioner is Supap Kirtsaeng, who resold textbooks published by John Wiley & Sons that were purchased overseas to U.S.-based students without the publisher’s consent. The issue is that the law says that first sale applies to copyrights to products made "under this" law. And the argument is that a product made outside the US may have copyright, but it isn't made "under" US copyright law, and thus it doesn't qualify.

As yet another part of the Administration’s emphasis to reform the U.S. intellectual property system, on April 11, 2012 the Department of Commerce released the report, “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus,” which focuses on the connection between intellectual property intensive-industries and job creation and its relation to the U.S. economy. The report, which was prepared by the Economics and Statistics Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was initiated as part of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s (IPEC) 2010 Joint Strategic Plan to create a comprehensive study to better understand the role of intellectual property (IP) in the economy and to inform policy decisions related to IP enforcement.

On Thursday, April 5, 2012, the Second Court of Appeals issued its decision in the Viacom v. YouTube lawsuit – a case that focuses on whether the safe harbor provisions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) protects YouTube from liabilities for hosting unlicensed copyrighted material on its website.  Under the DMCA, online service providers are immune from monetary liability for copyright infringement as a result of certain activities —the one at issue in this case is the safe harbor provision for “Information Residing on Systems or Networks At Direction of Users” (17 USC 512(c)).  Both sides are claiming victory.  

The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) announced on April 2, 2012 the appointment of Jill Lesser as its Executive Director. In addition the group announced the members of its Advisory Board and an agreement with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to implement an independent review process for consumers.

CCI was formed in September 2011 as part of a collaborative effort between U.S. content owners in the movie and music industries and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in order to develop a Copyright Alert System (CAS) and an educational framework intended to inform the public about and deter copyright infringement through peer-to-peer networks via direct communication with consumers.  (See blog post of July 15, 2011 for background information.)