Public Knowledge balanced copyright advocates Raza Panjwani and John Bergmayer will appear at public roundtable discussions May 18-20 to discuss software-enabled consumer devices (May 18) and the DMCA’s Section 1201 anticircumvention provision (May 19-20) at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. The U.S. Copyright Office is hosting these public roundtables as it studies how various provisions of copyright…

Google Vs. Oracle Trial Focuses On Fair Use, Could Shape Future Of Software Innovation.  Fortune provides a Q&A guide to the ongoing Google/Oracle copyright trial, which could determine the future of fair use of unlicensed APIs (application program interfaces)–the “set of instructions that allow one type of software talk to another.” Oracle is suing Google for using Oracle-owned APIs without…

Copyright Office Section 512 Roundtables Conclude In NYC, Head To CA. This week, the Copyright Office hosted a series of public roundtables in New York as part of its study of the DMCA’s Section 512, the safe harbor provision which enables free speech and creativity on the Internet. Re:Create Coalition members Michael Petricone (Consumer Technology Association), Matthew Schruers (Computer &…

  Raza Panjwani, copyright law expert at PK and the podcast guest who has received the most fan mail, returns to PKitK to tell Meredith Whipple everything there is to know and more about the 12-year Google Books lawsuit, in light of the recent Supreme Court rejection.   Click here to download the podcast. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here. Subscribe to…

On April 29, 2016, the Australian Productivity Commission issued a nearly 600 page draft report on Intellectual Property Arrangements recommending a number of positive changes to provide better balance to the intellectual property system, including recommendations on fair use, shorter copyright terms, and specifying that copyright licensing does not override limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. In the overview, while…

At the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive panel “Copyright & Creators 2026” on Friday, March 11, policy experts–including a fanworks leader, social justice advocate, futurist and veteran reporter–debated the trajectory of copyright law over the next decade. Organized by the Re:Create Coalition, the panelists took on copyright law’s impact on consumers, fans, digital entrepreneurs, and underprivileged communities today and discussed…

Chairman Goodlatte Pledges Commitment To Overhaul Copyright System. Speaking at a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) event in accordance with World Intellectual Property Day, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Bob Goodlatte, addressed the audience in a pre-taped video on April 26, pledging to overhaul the copyright system. Summarizing the committee’s work in the past three years Chairman Goodlatte reflected…

  In my almost three years at Public Knowledge, I have never been so delighted as this morning when I saw an amicus curiae brief in the lawsuit over copyright in the constructed language Klingon – which opens by quoting a Klingon proverb, in Klingon script. Copyright in languages is something that has fascinated and troubled me for a long…

Supreme Court Supports Google Books As Fair Use That Benefits Public Knowledge. On April 18, the Supreme Court denied appeal to the unanimous federal appeals panel decision that Google Books is legal under fair use. Hailing the decision, the Executive Director of the Re:Create Coalition said “Our copyright laws were established to help expand access to information, and today the…

If you felt a vibration in the air this morning, it may have been the final sigh of relief so many of us heaved when the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not review last fall’s expansive, pro-fair-use appellate court decision in the Google Books case. (Here’s The New York Times‘ account.) Now, law professors will tell you that when…