We Are Traveling Around the Country to Hear from You on Digital Copyright Issues

13th May 2014

Guest blog by Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs Shira Perlmutter

In our Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy, the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force promised to reach out to the public for input on a number of critical digital copyright issues. In the next few months, the USPTO, along with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), in coordination with the U.S. Copyright Office, will seek that input during four public roundtables in cities around the country. We are hosting events in Nashville, TN on May 21st, Cambridge, MA on June 25th, Los Angeles, CA on July 29th, and Berkeley, CA, on July 30th. Be sure to stop by if you happen to be in or near any of these cities! We will be webcasting the roundtables, so don’t worry if you cannot make it in person.

The digital copyright policy issues identified in the Green Paper are central to our nation’s economic growth, cultural development, and job creation—and these roundtables are part of efforts to address those issues. We previously held a full day conference on all of these issues in December at the USPTO, and our roundtables will now take the conversation forward on the following issues:

o The legal framework for the creation of remixes.

o The relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital age.

o The appropriate calibration of statutory damages in the context of (1) individual file sharers and (2) secondary liability for large-scale infringement.

Find more information on the roundtable topics and future agendas online. Please RSVP to participate in a roundtable near you.

Our goal is to have an interactive discussion of the issues to ensure a complete record upon which the task force can make recommendations. These roundtables will help us engage with a full range of voices across the country so that we can develop the best possible approaches. I look forward to hearing your voice among them.