Over the past week, our Copyright Counsel Mike Klipper and I have been busy in Washington D.C. laying the groundwork for our federal legislative agenda in 2019. This week’s activities followed closely on the heels of a very successful hearing on September 27, 2018, on the CASE Act before the House Judiciary Committee; the hearing described in Jenna Close’s recent article, Advocacy is a Verb: My Testimony on the Hill. At the hearing, Jenna joined…
Cross-Posted from Variety [by Michael Huppe]  What does the music industry have in common with the photography industry? Licensing and copyright and being fairly paid. The music industry recently had a major victory in the quest for musicians to be fairly paid in the form of the Music Modernization Act being signed into law. That victory was the result of many different parties – organizations of all kinds – working together for a single goal,…
Speaking truth to power is an experience unlike any I have had before. It is at once intimidating, exhilarating, difficult and yet also strangely easy. On Sept 27th I testified before the House Judiciary Committee in support of the small claims bill commonly referred to as The CASE Act. The days prior were a whirlwind of office meetings, strategy sessions and a crash course in what it means to show up on The Hill with…
Cross-posted from petapixel.com [by Michael Zhang] A real estate photographer has filed a lawsuit against Zillow, accusing the popular online real estate database of using his photos without permission. The American Genius reports that California/Nevada-based photographer George Gutenberg claims that Zillow scraped photos from Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) and went beyond using the data syndicated to Zillow. This allegedly led to Zillow obtaining Gutenberg’s copyrighted photos and using them without permission on their for-profit website….
Editor’s Note: ASMP and other US groups are reviewing the legislation as it pertains to US creators, and while it may be determined that this initial legislation may not cover all the bases, it is a starting point for establishing stronger protections for creators doing business in Europe. Cross-posted from reuters.com [by Foo Yun Chee] STRASBOURG — European Union lawmakers voted on Wednesday to force Google, Facebook <FB.O > and other technology firms to share…
ASMP’s small claims advocacy efforts over the past year have met with success! The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing on the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act on Thursday, September 27th at 2:00pmET (Room 2141 in the Rayburn House Office Building), located at 45 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20515. Former ASMP National Board Chair, Jenna Close, will be testifying at the hearing in support of the bill, which if enacted would…
Editor’s note: While ASMP continues to advocate for copyright reform directives that protect the intellectual property of members in the US, we want our members to be apprised of actions related to copyright directives taking place in international forums. Cross-posted from bbc.com [by Rory Cella-Jones] Did European politicians succumb to pressure from Silicon Valley and its powerful lobbying machine when they voted down a measure which would have rewarded publishers and artists? This week’s Tech…
Cross-posted from nytimes.com [by Adam Sartariano] It’s a fight nearly as old as the internet. On one side are news organizations, broadcasters and music companies that want to control how their content spreads across the web, and to be paid more for it. On the other are tech companies such as Facebook and Google, which argue that they funnel viewers and advertising revenue to media outlets, and free-speech advocates, who say that regulating the internet…
Cross-posted from copyrightalliance.org [by Terry Hart] Please Submit Requests for WHOIS Data to Domain Name Registrars/Registries and the IPC: As previously reported, access to the WHOIS database – which law enforcement, copyright owners and other rights holders use to obtain the identity and contact information for those who are operating infringing websites – is now being restricted due to a temporary specification approved by ICANN in order to comply with the EU General Data Protection…
Image © Jenna Close While ASMP has collected data from members who regularly register copyrights and is currently preparing an official public comment opposing the United States Copyright Office’s proposed copyright registration fee hike, ASMP invites members and non-members to submit comments directly to the United States Copyright Office (USCO) opposing the proposed copyright registration fee hikes. The proposed USCO copyright registration fee hike includes: Standard Application: from $55 to $75 Filing a Paper Supplementary…