Public Knowledge, a consumer rights advocacy group specializing in intellectual property issues, released a proposal calling for an overhaul of U.S. copyright laws last Friday. They're calling their proposal a "Six-Point Program for Copyright Reform."
First among the six points is fair use reform. Public Knowledge is recommending the addition of "incidental, transformative and non-commercial personal uses of content" as well as indexing for searches to the list of fair use exemptions.
The group would also like to see the results of the 1984 BetaMax lawsuit codified in copyright law. In that case the Supreme Court ruled that Sony wasn't liable for copyright infringement because video recording technology has “substantial non-infringing use.”
On the subject of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Public Knowledge is recommending revisions that would deter improper takedown requests. DMCA takedown requests are issued by copyright holders to force the removal of infringing material from web pages.
Two more points are related to licensing terms. The Public Knowledge proposal calls for simplifiying the process of identifying copyright holders for works. In cases where copyright information can't be identified after a "good faith search" they'd like to see any damages for infringement restricted.
Finally, they want to require copyrighted content to be distributed with text that clearly lays out consumer rights, instead of allowing warnings like those included with many products.
"Pre-VCR copyright policies must be transformed to embrace our new user-generated culture," Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn said in a speech to the New Media and the Marketplace of Ideas Friday. "For the past 35 years, the trend has been nearly unmitigated expansion of the scope and duration of copyright, resulting in a clear mismatch between the technology and the law. Over the past decade, copyright reformers like Public Knowledge have stopped the pendulum from swinging even farther away from digital reality. Now it is time to move the pendulum towards the future and away from the past."
The group would also like to see the results of the 1984 BetaMax lawsuit codified in copyright law. In that case the Supreme Court ruled that Sony wasn't liable for copyright infringement because video recording technology has “substantial non-infringing use.”
On the subject of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Public Knowledge is recommending revisions that would deter improper takedown requests. DMCA takedown requests are issued by copyright holders to force the removal of infringing material from web pages.
Two more points are related to licensing terms. The Public Knowledge proposal calls for simplifiying the process of identifying copyright holders for works. In cases where copyright information can't be identified after a "good faith search" they'd like to see any damages for infringement restricted.
Finally, they want to require copyrighted content to be distributed with text that clearly lays out consumer rights, instead of allowing warnings like those included with many products.
"Pre-VCR copyright policies must be transformed to embrace our new user-generated culture," Public Knowledge President Gigi B. Sohn said in a speech to the New Media and the Marketplace of Ideas Friday. "For the past 35 years, the trend has been nearly unmitigated expansion of the scope and duration of copyright, resulting in a clear mismatch between the technology and the law. Over the past decade, copyright reformers like Public Knowledge have stopped the pendulum from swinging even farther away from digital reality. Now it is time to move the pendulum towards the future and away from the past."
