At present, there are numerous rulemaking proceedings before the Copyright Office.  Of particular note is the beginning of the triennial rulemaking on exemptions to the circumvention prevention provisions of the DMCA.  This is the proceeding the Copyright Office conducts every three years to determine whether users of certain classes of copyrighted works are being impeded [...]

On Wednesday the Copyright Office issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to solicit public comment on proposals to update its interim regulations governing the designation by online service providers of 3rd parties to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement. Copyright Alliance Legal Advisory Board members from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP, summarized the main [...]

The U.S. Copyright Office is close to naming a new Register of Copyrights, according to a report from Politico this morning.  Dr. James Billington, Librarian of Congress, is interviewing approximately a dozen candidates this week and anticipates announcing the new Register before the end of March.

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 [...]

WASHINGTON — It’s World IP Day again, did you get all of your celebratory cards in the mail? No harm if you didn’t, but the ten-year-old designation by the World Intellectual Property Organization has been celebrated the last five years by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) with an event on Capitol Hill, and today [...]

WASHINGTON — Happy World IP Day! The ten-year old holiday, launched by the World Intellectual Property Organization, has been celebrated for the last five years by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) with a conference on Capitol Hill. Today’s was possibly the best yet, despite the fact that I moderated a panel there with a [...]

The national nonprofit dedicated to advancing the arts in the United States, Americans for the Arts, released today the National Arts Index by Roland J. Kushner and Randy Cohen, a report that analyzes the health and vitality of the arts and culture in the United States. It looks at 76 national-level indicators of artistic and [...]

This is a guest post from IP attorney Carol Ruth Shepherd, and is reprinted with permission from her blog, arborlaw. Below her post are links and summaries to comments in the proceeding from five Copyright Alliance members. The Copyright Office has proposed changes to the mandatory deposit requirements for copyright registration for online-only works — [...]

This is a busy week in Washington on the health care front, but IP issues keep popping up as well, like yesterday’s hearing on the dangers of P2P to another hearing yesterday, the confirmation hearing for David Kappos, the IBM veteran up for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director. He noted in his testimony that [...]

There is a tragedy occurring for artists and creators across the U.S. It is the failure of the U.S. Copyright Office to process copyright applications in a timely and efficient manner. Today’s Washington Post reports that backlogs of copyright applications have stretched from an already bad six months to eighteen months, and the Office continues [...]