Annual Report Shows Entertainment Industry Sees Continued Revenue Growth and Diversification. CCIA this week released its “The Sky is Rising” report which finds that the amount of content being produced and consumed is more diverse and growing faster than ever. Co-authored by researcher Leigh Beadon and analyst and CEO of the Copia Institute Mike Masnick, the report is an update to CCIA’s original report first released in 2012. On the study’s findings, CCIA President and CEO Ed Black stated: “We don’t doubt that the internet has a democratizing impact allowing artists to reach customers directly, which changes the distribution dynamic for expensive middlemen. While it may cut into the profits of other businesses that once controlled distribution of music, movies and books, the numbers show supply and demand for entertainment is higher than ever.”
Re:Create Op-Ed: Don’t Follow Europe’s Lead: American Copyright Law Works. In an op-ed for Morning Consult, Re:Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel warns that the EU copyright directive is not a viable framework for US policy and promotes the importance of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. “Here in the United States, we already have a system of checks and balances that protects rightsholders and also promotes creativity and innovation. Section 512 allows for the free flow of creativity and innovation and guards against copyright infringement and censorship,” wrote Lamel.
EU Copyright Directive Will Hit Startups And Small Businesses. Public Knowledge’s Gus Rossi explained the EU copyright directive’s mandated link tax and upload filters, describing “why you should be worried about similar policies coming to the United States.” Rossi emphasized that Article 13’s small business exemption is unworkable, writing, “an online web forum for a local community that’s more than three years old will face the same licensing and filtering obligations as Google and Facebook, even if it makes no money and has less than a thousand monthly visitors.”
Fan Fiction Site Scores Hugo Nomination. Archive of Our Own, a fan fiction site also known as “AO3,” scored a nomination in the Hugo Awards’ Best Related Work category. Founded by female fan fiction writers who represent a variety of professions, including law professor Rebecca Tushnet, AO3 is recognized for being a trustworthy and welcoming fan fiction community with a highly impressive search system that boasts two million registered users and nearly five million archived works representing 30,000 fandoms. As Slate highlights, AO3’s nomination is a significant reminder that “fan fiction communities are important creative and social spaces where people can be themselves, explore their own identities, and celebrate the media that they love.”
USTR Report Raises Concerns With EU Copyright Actions. The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) recently released its 2019 National Trade Estimate report on the status of foreign trade and investment barriers to American exports around the world. This year’s report shows the USTR has elevated concerns with how the EU’s actions on copyright will harm U.S. interests.