General copyright news/info
- The House Judiciary Committee has posted the comments it got in response to its policy proposal to “modernize the Copyright Office which was posted late last year. The letter I and quite a few of my higher-ed libraries copyright colleagues sent was not included in the public responses, but there are interesting comments from the Library Copyright Alliance and a number of other public interest groups.
In other news, the information and interaction design of that webpage is really not good. - The Copyright Office has an open study on Section 512 (the notice-and-takedown provisions) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and recently extended deadlines for comment submission. Written responses to the questions outlined in the Second Notice are now due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on February 21, 2017. Empirical research studies are due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on March 22, 2017.
- The Copyright Office also recently (1/23/2017) opened a study on the Moral Rights of Attribution and Integrity. They have posted a Notice of Inquiry(PDF), and comments in response are due no later than 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on March 9, 2017.
- A bill has been introduced (2/6/2017) in the U.S. House of Representatives to make the Copyright Office an independent Legislative branch agency. Details are thin at the moment.
Other related topics
- The Federal Circuit has remanded the Apple/Samsung design patent case back to the district court for further proceedings.
- The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the “The Slants” trademark case on Jan 18.
- A few perspectives on SCOTUS nominee Gorsuch on copyright/IP/tech/related issues:
James Grimmelmann
Eriq Gardner
(There is limited exploration on this point, partly because a lot of lawyers are frustrated at the procedural maneuvering that has denied Garland a hearing.)
