This post is the fourth installment of #CopyrightwithCourtney, a series from Courtney Duffy on the copyright challenges faced by artists in various disciplines. Courtney is the Robert W. Deutsch Arts & Technology Policy Fellow at Public Knowledge. You can read her other posts in the series here. You’ll find her on Twitter @cduffy90. A version of this post was…

Copyright term in several countries, including the United States and European Union, go far beyond international standards.  The current term is set at the life of the author plus seventy years and this lengthy term severely harms the public domain and contributes to the orphan works problem.  Some past blog posts on copyright term can be found here (myths and facts)…

You’re Invited! Re:Create Hosts Academic Showcase And Policy Event Next Week. The Re:Create Coalition will host a policy event on Tuesday, November 17 at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library (901 G St. NW, Washington, D.C.) starting at 8:30 a.m. On hand will be scholars and policy influencers discussing the changing landscape of copyright and how it’s affecting innovators and…

Re:Create Announces Policy Event – “Create. Innovate. Reform.” The Re:Create Coalition will host a policy event, which will be held on November 17, 2015 at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library (901 G St. NW, Washington, D.C.). On hand will be scholars and policy influencers discussing the changing landscape of copyright and how it’s affecting innovators and creators. Breakfast will…

  Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously found that the Google Books project, under which Google digitized, indexed, and permits users to search and view snippets of millions of printed books, constitutes a fair use. The following can be attributed to Raza Panjwani, Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge: “The circuit court’s decision is a…

Copyright Exemptions Illustrate Need For Reform. As part of its triennial review, the Library of Congress announced on Tuesday a number of exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s 1201 anti-circumvention rules. Exemptions included the authorization of vehicle software research, jailbreaking cell phones, and editing old video games. While many welcomed the decisions, some advocates cautioned that there is…

  Public Knowledge will host a press briefing Wednesday, October 28 at 2 p.m. EDT to discuss the Digital Millennium Copyright Act triennial exemption process for digital locks. The DMCA’s rules against bypassing digital locks harm consumers and interfere with everyday uses of technology, holding people liable for copyright violations just for accessing their own data on their own devices….

Major Victory For Fair Use In Book Digitization Case. A major ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was handed down on October 16 establishing Google’s program to digitize millions of books is legal under fair use. In a press release the Re:Create Coalition applauded the ruling and said, “This decision scores a major victory…

In June 2015, the Copyright Office released its report on Orphan Works and Mass Digitization.  When the report was released, ARL noted flaws with the report for both the orphan works legislation recommendation and the mass digitization/extended collective licensing pilot program proposal pointing out that libraries rely heavily on fair use.  The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) also submitted a response to…

Project DisCo readers know that a number of our contributors have regularly posted on the subjects of copyright and fair use. Indeed, the topic is not only important, but one for which change is frequent and sometimes lurching. Nothing exemplifies that better than the shifting sands of copyright enforcement by major U.S. and international sports organizations, like the National Football…