In Memory of Marybeth Peters, Eleventh Register of Copyrights — From the US Copyright Office, “On September 29, 2022, the copyright community lost a friend, advocate, and scholar when Marybeth Peters passed away peacefully in her sleep at the age of 83. Having served the Copyright Office for more than four decades in numerous capacities, including as the Office’s head, she was a global authority on copyright law and a well-known and well-loved presence in the world of copyright.” The broader copyright community shares memories of Peters at the Copyright Alliance’s Tribute Blog in Memory of Former Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters.
The Stakes in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith — Not one, but two articles this week about the Supreme Court’s review of Warhol Foundation, in anticipation of next week’s oral arguments in front of the Court. The first, from Marquette University Law School professor Bruce Boyden considers what various outcomes of the case might mean for the broader art and photography worlds.
Warhol v. Goldsmith: An Examination of Bill Patry’s Analysis — The second, from Neil Turkewitz, canvasses copyright expert Bill Patry’s treatment of the Second Circuit decision up for review in his copyright treatise. As Turkewitz says, “spoiler alert: ‘Warhol’s use was not a fair use.'”
RIAA Thwarts Yout’s Attempt to Declare YouTube-Ripping Legal — A preemptive attempt to have its stream-ripping platform declared non-infringing fails, as Torrentfreak reports. Last week, a federal judge rejected Yout’s argument that it does not circumvent technological protection measures employed by YouTube to prevent downloading audio and video files from the service. This follows a decision just shy of a year ago from a separate federal court finding a similar stream-ripping service liable copyright infringement and violating the DMCA’s anticircumvention provisions.
Guest Post — Missing Revenue in the Global Flip: Getting the Open Access Math Right — Roy Kaufman looks at the ramifications of a “recent OSTP memo calling for zero embargo public access policies for articles resulting from research funded by US Federal agencies.” Kaufman writes, “Whether driven by funders, governments, publishers, institutions, a genuine belief in an open future, or some other motivating factor, the so-called ‘Global Flip,’ will require major changes to the fundamental economics of journal publishing for it to be sustainable. In order to succeed in a flip, a holistic approach is needed, especially to ensure the survival of high-quality society-published journals on which both corporate and academic researchers rely.”