Congressmen Introduce American Music Fairness Act to Compel Radio to Pay Royalties on Recorded Music — “The United States is the only major country in the world where terrestrial radio pays no royalties to performers or recorded-music copyright owners of the songs they play, a situation that is largely due to the powerful radio lobby’s influence in Congress. While the more than 8,300 AM and FM stations across the country pay royalties to songwriters, they have never paid performers or copyright holders, although streaming services do. On Thursday, Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) introduced the bipartisan American Music Fairness Act, which aims to rectify that situation.”
CJEU rules on platform liability under copyright law, safe harbours, and injunctions — “The early reactions I have seen, likely supported by the rather misleading title of the press release, have been in the sense that the CJEU has ruled that platforms like YouTube and Uploaded do not communicate to the public under Article 3. In turn, this would mean that Article 17 of the DSM Directive is a novel regime that does not at all ‘clarify’ the law (recital 64 of the DSM Directive), but rather changes it. This interpretation is, in my view, incorrect.”
“Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!” dispute won’t go to SCOTUS, justices say — “The high court won’t review the 9th Circuit’s December decision written by U.S. Circuit Judge Margaret McKeown that author David Jerrold and ComicMix LLC’s mashup of ‘Star Trek’ elements with Dr. Seuss’s ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ didn’t make fair use of Seuss’s work largely because it wasn’t transformative.”
Library of Congress Announces Copyright Public Modernization Committee — “. . . the CPMC is being established by the Library to expand and enhance communication with external stakeholders on IT modernization of Copyright Office systems. Committee members were selected from a pool of applicants for their ability to represent a broad cross section of the copyright community and other interested groups. CPMC members will provide valuable input into the development of the new Enterprise Copyright System (ECS), which includes the Office’s registration, recordation, public records, and licensing IT applications, and will be encouraged to help spread awareness of the Library’s development efforts more broadly.”
Library of Congress to Celebrate the Return of Visitors to the Thomas Jefferson Building in July — “A limited number of free timed entry passes will be available on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., with last entry at 3 p.m. For information on reserving tickets, visit loc.gov/visit – visitors can review ‘Know Before You Go’ guidelines and reserve their free passes. Each visitor must have a printed paper pass or a digital copy of the pass available on a mobile device for entry. All visitors, regardless of age, must have a timed pass for entry, and each visitor will be able to reserve up to (6) passes. Passes will be released on a rolling, 30-day basis, so for visitors planning to visit within the next month, please visit the reservation site for availability.”