Statements to Congress


May 3, 2017	Testimony on Copyright Office Modernization and Funding House Committee On Appropriations Subcommittee on Legislative Branch SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance submitted testimony for a hearing regarding Copyright Office modernization and funding, before the House Committee on Appropriations' Subcommittee on Legislative Branch.
January 31, 2017	Comments on House Judiciary Committee Copyright Office Reform Proposal Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers of the House Committee on the Judiciary SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance submitted comments to the House Judiciary Committee in support of the first policy proposal released by Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers calling for reform of the Copyright Office.
April 15, 2016	Letter Supporting US Copyright Office Provisional Information Technology Modernization Plan House and Senate Subcommittees on Legislative Branch Appropriations SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance expresses support for the Copyright Office’s Provisional Information Technology Modernization Plan and urges appropriators to press the Copyright Office to implement the Plan as soon as reasonably possible.
December 2, 2015	Improving Customer Service for the Copyright Community House Administration Committee SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance highlights the important role the U.S. Copyright Office-and in particular the Office's IT system-plays in the creation and distribution of new creative works and in the provision of access to data relating tocopyrighted works, the detrimental effect that the relationship between the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office has had on the Office's operations, IT infrastructure, security, and budget, and the immediate need to take steps to modernize the Office.
May 13, 2015	Stakeholder Perspectives on ICANN: The .Sucks Domain and Essential Steps to Guarantee Trust and Accountability in the Internet's Operation House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance advocates for stronger contractual compliance between ICANN and registrars. In order for a private multistakeholder model of Internet governance to work successfully, the contracts set through the model must be vigorously and transparently enforced.
November 19, 2014	Copyright Issues in Education and For the Visually Impaired House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance makes three points, primarily in response to the relevant litigation between various educational publishers and Georgia State University: (1) the courts must continue to apply copyright law, including the fair use defense in a "media neutral" fashion, (2) when considering "potential market harm" from an unlicensed use, courts should consider harm to existing and developing licensing markets for the use, and (3) courts should not apply the fair use defense in an overly rigid and mechanical fashion or simplify it with bright-line rules.
November 17, 2014	Copyright Office Oversight House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance provides several recommendations to help strengthen the performance of the Copyright Office in terms of overall governance, information technology, and budget and staffing, which the Copyright Alliance believes will ensure its successful future operation.
September 17, 2014	Chapter 12 of Title 17 House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance highlights how technological protection mechanisms facilitate the seamless operation of offering creative works over a vast network of platforms and formats, and allow for a variety of different usage models to exist in the marketplace to suit varied consumer interests and preferences.
July 24, 2014	First Sale Under Title 17 House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance submits this statement to explain why calls to expand the first sale doctrine should be rejected, as they would limit not only the copyright owner's distribution right, but the reproduction right as well, and would impose restrictions on the use of licensing transactions for the distribution of works, which drives innovation in the digital economy.
June 2, 2014	Copyright Remedies House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet SUMMARY: The Copyright Alliance focuses its statement on two areas concerning copyright remedies which are of particular interest to members of the Copyright Alliance: (1) better options for addressing copyright claims of relatively small economic value, and (2) ensuring continued availability of statutory damages to provide meaningful remedies for copyright owners where actual damages would be inadequate as a remedy or hard to prove.