ASMP has responded to the
April 24, 2015 U.S. Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry, which set out to review “how certain visual works, particularly photographs, graphic artworks, and illustrations are monetized, enforced and registered under the Copyright Act.”
The response focused on several critical areas including:
- The need for effective remedies, such as a specialized Copyright Small Claims Court, to counterbalance the rampant infringement of photographic works that involve sums too small to justify litigation in federal Court.
- Flaws in DMCA take-down procedures that protect infringers while placing an undue burden on rightsholders.
- The aggregation of visual content by technology companies that amass venture funding and advertising revenues without returning
- The reliance on expanded interpretations of the Fair Use doctrine as justification for widespread appropriation and misuse of copyrighted works.
- Extensive client, event and venue demands for Work Made For Hire and Copyright Transfer as contractual workarounds to bypass the intent of Copyright and traditional licensing models.
- Challenges posed by the registration process including the confusing rules surrounding the separation of and distinction between published and unpublished works and the lack of an effective API that would allow third party software developers to create drag and drop registration from within photo editing applications.
Find the full response
here.