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Support for Congressional Copyright Office Bill

March 27, 2017

By Colin Mann

Mark Elliot, Executive Vice President US Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center has expressed his support of the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act, which would make the Register of Copyrights a position nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

The proposed legislation was the result of a bipartisan, bicameral effort led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and Senate Judiciary Committee Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Elliott said that Innovative and creative industries were encouraged by Congress’s commitment to the ongoing process to modernise the US Copyright Office. “The office plays a critical role in fostering American creativity and innovation: copyright-intensive industries support 5.6 million jobs in the US alone. It is extremely important that Congress continue its work on office modernisation going forward in order to provide the office with the right leadership and IT capabilities to better serve the American people and companies. We applaud congressional leaders on the introduction of this bipartisan bill as an important first step in this process, and we will continue to work with them as they seek to strengthen and improve our nation’s Copyright Office,” he confirmed.

Neil Turkewitz, Senior Policy Counsel, Intellectual Property and the Digital Economy at the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) said the Center also applauded the Bill’s introduction in the House, noting that in recent comments to the House Judiciary Committee, the Center had said:

It is time, or past time, to establish the proper foundations for the operation of the Copyright Office in light of its economic and cultural significance. It is also past time to rely on legacy processes and traditions that ill serve US interests in a well-functioning and modern copyright system.

“The legislation introduced today will go a long way towards establishing a neutral administrator of the nation’s copyright registration system, and we wholeheartedly support it,” he declared

 

 

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