On April 29 the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing titled “The Register’s Perspective on Copyright Review” for MARIA PALLANTE, Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office. Pallante identified eight issues she believes are “ripe for legislation.” She also reiterated her call for an independent Copyright Office that does not report to the Library of Congress.
The eight issues were: 1) overhauling the music licensing system, 2) enacting a resale royalty provision for visual art, 3) creating an alternative, but voluntary, small claims tribunal, 4) creating felony criminal penalties for unlawful online streaming of copyrighted material, 5) Section 108 library exceptions, 6) dealing with issues related to orphan works, such as creating a legislative framework in which liability is limited or eliminated for users that conduct a good-faith search for the copyright owner of a work, 7) updating exceptions for the blind and visually impaired such as the Chafee Amendment, and 8) updating the Section 1201 regulatory process to create a regulatory presumption in favor of renewal of existing exemptions. Her testimony and a video recording of the hearing are available on the Judiciary Committee’s website.