Copyright law gives authors exclusive rights to their works, except when it doesn’t. In other words, U.S. law places some limitations on copyright owners’ rights. Copyright is not perpetual. Folks can occasionally make use of a copyrighted work without permission or compensation (fair use). And some exceptions are made for libraries and archives, under Section [...]

When the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator received personal letters in the thousands from artists and creators across the U.S. in late March, that was noteworthy. Many of those artists are Copyright Alliance grassroots members, and we were as pleased as they were that the Obama Administration encouraged comments as the USIPEC develops a national [...]

WASHINGTON — This morning the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus announced its “2010 International Anti-Piracy Watch List,” the nations that leading members of Congress will focus on in the coming year in terms of improving the protection of U.S. rights owners of intellectual property. As was the case last year, the five nations being watched are [...]

Happy 3rd birthday, Copyright Alliance! Three years ago today, May 17th, the Copyright Alliance was formally launched. One organization brought together representatives from all copyright industries, including unions and guilds, corporations, trade associations, artists’ alliances, and of course individual artists and creators themselves. However they may tussle in the marketplace of creativity, they are united [...]

While some will always prefer holding a printed book and turning actual pages, readers now have a host of additional options. A recent New York Times article chronicles the numerous mobile reader options available to consumers. Check it out! In Syn© is a regular update on innovation in the copyright community.

It’s been nearly five years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Grokster and clearly established the illegality of a corporation facilitating massive copyright infringement via P2P software, but now the exclamation point has been placed on that decision by Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court. In a decision that is both obvious [...]

LOS ANGELES — A common fallacy of modern-day digirati thinking is that because things are new, they must invariably replace the old. This flies against logic and against history. Look at any technological innovation of note, and you’ll still find some level of use of a prior generation of technology. Those critical of modern copyright [...]

WASHINGTON – The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) hosted an open workshop yesterday titled “Copyright Registration: Best Practices.” Three members of the U.S. Copyright Office were present and conducted the workshop to nearly 200 participants via a live and webcast audience. Ted A. Hirakawa, Acting Chief of the Literary Division; William Briganti, Assistant Chief [...]

SANTA MONICA — Anyone who has been in the copyright policy space awhile knows that the music industry is frequently described as the “canary in the coal mine.” The analogy comes from the tradition of miners bringing caged canaries into mines to gauge how toxic the air was. If the canary died, they should probably [...]

Kudos to the White House for posting hundreds and hundreds of comments online in response to the call by Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, for guidance on how to improve enforcement of IP rights. You can see them here. I’d direct your attention to our filing, because even though we already have [...]