Our copyright system is desperately outdated and now more than ever, President Obama has the ability to reform it.
Near the end of his term, President Bush signed a law creating a cabinet-level position for a "Copyright czar." According to Wired, the "Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act," passed by Congress and signed by the former president, created the position. America's Copyright czar will be charged with:
"Implementing a nationwide plan to combat piracy and ‘report directly to the president and Congress regarding domestic international intellectual property enforcement programs.’"
Sign the petition here to tell the Administration that a progressive Copyright czar is needed.
Throughout the campaign, President Obama touted a progressive stance on technology issues such as network neutrality and copyright reform.
According to WhiteHouse.gov, updating and reforming "our copyright and patent systems to promote civic discourse, innovation, and investment" is on the President’s agenda.
The same promise can be found on his campaign website. To achieve such reform, President Obama will have to appoint a czar who is progressive and willing to seriously tackle this issue.
Earning endorsements from the CEO of Google, the former CEO of Craigslist, the founder of the blog "TechCrunch" and the co-founder of Netscape (just to name a few), made Obama the candidate for Internet freedom.
Additionally, the endorsement of Stanford Law professor and copyright reform advocate Lawrence Lessig made him the hope for digital copyright reformers across the country.
However, as Obama took office, he quickly began staffing the Department of Justice with people who hold a contrary view on copyright reform – bringing question to whether Obama is truly progressive on technology issues. The fear now is that his desire to "balance" copyright law will place him in the middle of the road, most likely leaning towards corporate interest.
Obama’s DOJ already has a long resume showing support for the Recording Industry Association of America and strict copyright enforcement. In fact, before taking their positions at the DOJ, Tom Perrelli advocated on the behalf of the RIAA for the right to unmask file sharers without being required to show evidence first and Donald Verrilli sued Google on behalf of Viacom.
If the Obama administration wants America to believe that he answers to the people, and not corporate interests, they should pursue serious digital copyright reform and appoint a progressive Copyright czar.
Sign the petition demanding President Obama to appoint a czar with no major ties to the major recording industries.
Our current copyright system is outdated by about 30 years and desperately needs to change. Public Knowledge has outlined a few principles for a "balanced" reform of the system:
Protect Innovation: The powers granted to authors must be balanced with the rights of users and other innovators, whether innovation takes the form of new creative works, or new ways to access existing works. Encouraging technological innovation and preserving consumers’ rights thus go hand in hand.
Preserve Our Technological Strength: Ensuring that our information economy can generate real benefits in these trying times also requires policies that preserve open competition and prevent particular interests from exercising a technological veto over new systems.
Promote American Values Abroad: As we seek to protect the interests of domestic industries, we must also ensure that international instruments promote American values. Raising global standards in the areas of free speech and free enterprise are critical to maintaining the progress and development of new ideas around the world. The United States’ copyright agenda should therefore protect innovation, preserve our technological strength, and promote American values abroad.
The principles for a balanced copyright reform can be found in greater detail here.
In 2007, Public Knowledge proposed a six point program for substantive copyright reform. The principles behind these points must be looked at closely by our new Copyright czar.
Here are the six points via Public Knowledge:
The six points are:
- Fair Use Reform. The existing four-part legal test for fair use should be expanded to add incidental, transformative and non-commercial personal uses of content. In addition, Congress should provide that making a digital copy of a work for indexing searches is not an infringement.
- Limits on Secondary Liability. The 1984 Sony Betamax decision by the U.S. Supreme Court protecting a manufacturer of technology from liability as long as the technology has "substantial non-infringing use" should be codified.
- Protections Against Copyright Abuse. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) should be expanded to deter copyright holders from filing frivolous requests that material be taken down from a web site. Congress should provide legal relief for legitimate users of a work should copyright owners overstate their rights.
- Fair and Accessible Licensing. Congress should simplify the Byzantine world of obtaining rights to use a musical work, and should require broadcasters to pay performance royalties as satellite and Internet radio do.
- Orphan Works Reform. Congress should limit damages for the use of works for which a copyright can not be found after a good-faith search. In addition, competitive visual registries should be established to protect visual artists and photographers.
- Notice of Technological and Contractual Restrictions on Digital Media. Copyright holders should be required to provide clear and simple notice to consumers of any technological or contractual limitations on a consumer’s ability to make fair use or other lawful use of a product. There would be legal consequences if that notice isn’t followed.
Sign the petition demanding President Obama hold true to his promise to reform our copyright system.