Policy Blog Entries by Rashmi Rangnath

Public Knowledge filed comments regarding the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) last Friday advising the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that ACTA should not adversely affect the rights of consumers and technology innovators in its efforts to curb counterfeiting and piracy.

The book publishers and an online infringement tracking company, of all people, made PK’s case for an orphan works solution yesterday. Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Allan Adler, of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), said that Congress should move forward with legislation that would solve the orphan works problem. At the March 13 hearing, he advocated for a solution based on the framework set by HR. 5439 introduced in the 109th congress. You can find an analysis of that bill here.

How much compensation should an artist get when his music is used? And in deciding this question, what consideration should be given to the interests of the distributor? If you ask the RIAA or SoundExchange the answer would be that the artist deserves the highest compensation if the RIAA members don’t have to pay it. If they do, whoever decides the amount of compensation should always be mindful of the RIAA companies’ bottom line.

As Alex mentioned, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property held a hearing on the need to protect fashion designs and designs of external automobile parts this past Thursday. A bill to protect fashion designs, H.R. 2033, has already been introduced in the House. We’ve written about it here, here and here, but this bill would prevent designers from making garments and accessories that look the same or substantially similar to protected designs.

I have heard stories about patent holding companies acquiring patents and harassing legitimate businesses that might be inadvertently infringing on the patent. But I thought this did not happen in the copyright context. That is why I was shocked when I was forwarded a link to Dan Heller’s article which explains how being infringed is good for a photographer’s business. Heller points to a news story about Corbis’ lawsuit against TemplateMonster which resulted in a $20 million judgment for Corbis and tells photographers whose photos have been infringed that they may be “sitting on a pot of gold”.

No one is opposed to efforts that seek to curb counterfeiting and piracy, especially when those efforts seek to prevent the entry of unsafe products into streams of commerce. However, what many are opposed to is increasing already high penalties for IP infringement and increasing the rights of content owners at the expense of consumers in the name of curbing counterfeiting and piracy. What is worse is when this happens through an international treaty that is not open to public scrutiny. Case in point: the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

The Patent Reform Act of 2007 has been awaiting a vote on the floor of the Senate for sometime now. Public interest groups have been hoping there will be a vote sometime this fall. The House passed a similar version of the bill on September 7th of this year. There has been too much discussion and deliberation about patent reform for this bill not to come to the Senate floor. The FTC came out with its recommendations for patent reform in 2003 and the National Academies came out with their report in 2004. Many provisions of this Patent Reform bill and its previous iteration are based on recommendations in these reports.

When the bill is considered for a vote, public interest groups only hope that some of its reform provisions don’t get watered down in effectiveness. As it stands a few key provisions in the Senate bill are more pro-reform than the House bill.

Musicians are definitely interested in using the Internet to reach their audience. That was the clear message I got at the Copyright Tutorial for Musicians that Public Knowledge hosted in New York City recently. Sherwin and I gave the presentation at the tutorial, which was designed to give musicians an overview of copyright law and policy. The event was co-sponsored by the New York City based Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts.

First Blackberry…now NTP is setting its sights on wireless email providers and targeting mobile devices such as PDAs, cell phones and smart phones that are capable of sending emails. What next… the laptop? NTP filed lawsuits against Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile claiming infringement of eight (8) of its patents. The lawsuits, filed in Federal District Court in Virginia, seek an injunction against the sale of these devices. Lawsuits like these threaten to deprive people of continued use of legitimately purchased products and services.

Public Knowledge will host a copyright workshop for musicians in Rochester, NY on September 10th. The workshop will cover the basics of copyright law and how it applies to musicians. It will also discuss current issues in copyright policy. The event is sponsored by the New York State Music Fund and is being promoted through the Rochester Music Coalition. Event details:

When: September 10th, 6 to 8 P.M.

Where: Water Street Music Hall

To RSVP please email rashmi.c.rangnath@gmail.com