Perlmutter addresses copyright issues at first House oversight hearing — The head of the US Copyright Office appeared in front of the House Judiciary Committee for the first time since taking the helm as Register of Copyrights last October. Perlmutter discussed the Office’s operations during the pandemic, continued modernization efforts, implementation of the Music Modernization Act and CASE Act, and fielded questions concerning policy issues like DMCA reform, terrestrial radio royalties, and resale royalties.
Foreign Works, US Rights: The 7th Circle of Copyright Hell? — Aaron Moss discusses the thorny issues implicated in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against Nirvana. “The legal issue, simply stated, is whether a work first published in a foreign country without proper copyright notice is subject to copyright protection in the United States. The answer, unfortunately, isn’t so simple, at least for works first published before 1978. It’s made even more complicated as a result of a controversial Ninth Circuit case, Twin Books v. Walt Disney Co., which involved the novel “Bambi, a Life in the Woods,†first published in Germany in 1923 without copyright notice.”
Copyright reform in Singapore continues release of draft Bill for public consultation — “In February 2021, Ministry of Law (MinLaw) and Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) released a draft Copyright Bill (the draft Bill) for public consultation. The draft Bill is significant because it is the first time the existing Copyright Act (the Act) is being restructured and rewritten as a whole.”