Goodlatte & Conyers Release First Policy Proposal of Copyright Review — A lot of copyright developments this week! Leading the pack, members of the House Judiciary Committee released a document outlining the first proposal to arise out of its copyright review process, which began in 2013 and included 20 hearings. The proposal addresses the Copyright Office itself in an effort to modernize it for the 21st century. It also calls for the creation of a small copyright claims process.
Reps. Judy Chu and Lamar Smith Introduce Small Claims Reform for Creators — Speaking of small copyright claims, the same day the above proposal was released, Reps. Chu and Smith announced their own bill for a small claims process. The process is modelled on the recommendations of the Copyright Office in its 2013 report on the issue, and the bill joins a similar one introduced this summer by Reps. Jeffries and Marino.
Core Copyright Industries add $1.2 Trillion to US Economy and Employ 5.5 Million American Workers — The International Intellectual Property Alliance this week released its 2016 report on the economic contributions of the core copyright industries. Along with the headline figures, the report finds that sales of US copyright products in overseas markets topped $177 billion in 2015, outpacing other major industries such as chemicals, aerospace, and agriculture.
Masnick Makes a Hash of Fair Use & Censorship — David Newhoff writes, “As a general statement, it is true that fair use is a free-speech-based exception to copyright, but most speech-related, or press-related, uses almost always relate to other forms of expression, including journalism, and they rarely implicate the ‘transformative’ standard being referred to by the News Media Alliance.”
A Lawyer Digs Into Instagram’s Terms of Use — A quick primer on what you are agreeing to when you upload images to the popular social network.