Last week, I was out of the country attending the annual World Congress for the International Federation of Reprographic Rights Organizations (IFRRO) in Athens, Greece. While there, I learned of two terrible things happening in the United States – 1) the murder of two African-Americans in Louisville, KY as an apparent hate crime, and 2) a spate of mail bombs sent to members of the media and prominent politicians, including two former presidents. Then after…
ASMP is deeply saddened by the shooting on June 28 at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters were killed in their newsroom, and others were wounded. We support their families, the staff at the newspaper, and journalists everywhere who work to inform the public. This terrible tragedy that has just happened is now all too common in this country. The reality is that violent…
We continue to work for passage of HR 3945, the CASE Act, as a means to resolve a historic inequity that has left you with “rights but not remedies” under the current copyright system. We are awaiting a markup hearing for this bill, hoping to get it out of the House Judiciary Committee with an overwhelmingly positive vote and then to the full House before the August recess. I have sent out this letter urging…
Dear Member, I’m writing to seek your help in filling out a survey questionnaire from the Authors Coalition of America (ACA). As previously discussed, in order to receive funds from the ACA, we are required to submit affidavits from every member indicating that they have the potential to have had work copied by entities overseas as a precondition. What does this mean to ASMP: The ACA distributes non-title specific funds received from overseas entities belonging…
Today Rep. Hakeem Jeffries engaged in a colloquy with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler on HR 3945, the CASE Act of 2018 that would create a small claims tribunal within the U.S. Copyright Office to address infringements – a true alternative to Federal Court. Their conversation took place during the markup of the Music Modernization Act and can be heard beginning at the 1:30 mark of this video….
As I have worked on U.S. Copyright modernization issues over the past several years, I have repeatedly heard from members about the problems of distinguishing “published vs. unpublished” as a registration matter when making a registration. Our coalition of visual groups representing visual creators is seeking to address this issue head-on with the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) this year as we work for other things like the passage of HR 3945, the CASE Act…
Yesterday, I had a great call with chapter leaders to discuss our ongoing efforts to ensure HR3945, the bill that would create a small claims tribunal as an alternative to Federal Court to gain remedies for infringements. We need this bill to move out of the House Judiciary Committee during this session of Congress to a full vote in the House, on to the Senate and ultimately to the President’s desk before September. Next week,…
In an effort to build additional support for HR 3945, the “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2017” (the “CASE Act”) introduced by Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Tom Marino (R-PA), and to urge the House Judiciary Committee to take prompt action on the legislation, last week, ASMP Executive Director, Tom Kennedy, and ASMP copyright counsel, Mike Klipper, joined with other organizations that support the legislation and visited the offices of several members of…
As we move into the period of an ending year, major holidays loom. One is Thanksgiving, a time when we gather with family and friends to share and give thanks for the abundance in our lives. Underlying that celebration is the idea of gratitude. As I think about the holiday, I am struck by the need and challenge of maintaining gratitude in the face of the noise of our culture and the difficulties that may…