US Copyright Office report on Orphan Works & Mass Digitization

[AnemicOak]

Thought this might be of interest to some folks. The US Copyright Office has just published a 234 page report on Orphan Works & Mass Digitization.

PDF link
http://copyright.gov/orphan/reports/...-works2015.pdf

[bgalbrecht]

It will be moot soon enough. Obama's giving Big Content everything they want in the TPP (Pacfic) and TTIP (Atlantic) trade agreements, and from what has been leaked of the earlier versions of the negotiations, the US will never be able to pass an orphan works bill because it will violate these trade agreements. And these trade agreements will pass unchanged because the Republicans own Congress, and these pacts are all about increasing the profits of big business. Not that a Democratic Senate would have stopped it either, and a lot of Democratic Senators are very Big Content friendly too.

[BinaryTB]

By "Big Content" do you mean Google or book publishers? One is pro-orphan-works (Google), the other is most likely not (publishers).

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by BinaryTB

By "Big Content" do you mean Google or book publishers? One is pro-orphan-works (Google), the other is most likely not (publishers).

Hollywood...

[crich70]

So how will this affect the little people like us here at MR?

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by crich70

So how will this affect the little people like us here at MR?

We won't know until the deal is passed and the terms released.

Let's just say I'm installing new hand holds on my ankles....

[pwalker8]

A brief scan of the PDF says that they recommend a safe harbor for orphan works (i.e. limited liability if you show that you made a legit effort to find the copyright holder) and some sort of collective licensing for mass digitization, kind of like the current music licensing.

I don't think that there will be a huge effort against either suggestion. Neither Hollywood nor Disney is likely to oppose it. And given that both the President and most entertainment industry execs are Democrats, if it is blocked by the trade treaty that the Obama administration is negotiating, I don't think we can pin this on the Republicans.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I don't think that there will be a huge effort against either suggestion. Neither Hollywood nor Disney is likely to oppose it. And given that both the President and most entertainment industry execs are Democrats, if it is blocked by the trade treaty that the Obama administration is negotiating, I don't think we can pin this on the Republicans.

Oh, this is totally Obama's fault for letting the lobbyists write the treaty, but the Democrats are the ones resisting fast track. I don't expect the TPP to not get ratified, even if it includes, as expected, a requirement to enact the MPAA's Stop Online Piracy Act, which got dumped by Congress after massive online protests. We obviously won't know until the TPP is released because it's currently classified until it goes up for approval, but from the earlier leaks, I do not expect there will be any allowances for anything except the most strict copyright enforcement imaginable.

[pwalker8]

Fast track simply means that it's voted on without amendments. The Democratic opposition to fast track had nothing to do with copyright law and everything to do with Unions. If Obama embeds some sort of anti-Piracy Act which forbids exceptions to copyright law, then it will be on him.

[drjenkins]

Cory Doctorow thinks that the Copyright Office plan is a defective mess. The plan is open to public comment until October 9, 2015. Here is the comment Cory submitted:

Copyright Office seeks your comments on its crazy, broken plan to deal with orphan works

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

Oh, this is totally Obama's fault for letting the lobbyists write the treaty, but the Democrats are the ones resisting fast track. I don't expect the TPP to not get ratified, even if it includes, as expected, a requirement to enact the MPAA's Stop Online Piracy Act, which got dumped by Congress after massive online protests. We obviously won't know until the TPP is released because it's currently classified until it goes up for approval, but from the earlier leaks, I do not expect there will be any allowances for anything except the most strict copyright enforcement imaginable.

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Fast track simply means that it's voted on without amendments. The Democratic opposition to fast track had nothing to do with copyright law and everything to do with Unions. If Obama embeds some sort of anti-Piracy Act which forbids exceptions to copyright law, then it will be on him.

It would be more accurate to say that if the TPP agreement is passed it will reflect a partnership of Obama and Republicans in Congress. That's how it went down in granting fast-track authority. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/2...to-white-house

That's how it will go down when the deal is ratified in the Senate. Yes, labor and environmental groups oppose the deal. The entire TPP is all about serving corporate interests which explains why 'Obama's Deal' will make it through the Senate on Republican votes.