The folks over at Public Knowledge have officially unveiled their plan for copyright reform, focusing on five key areas:
- strengthen fair use, including reforming outrageously high statutory damages, which deter innovation and creativity;
- reform the DMCA to permit circumvention of digital locks for lawful purposes;
- update the limitations and exceptions to copyright protection to better conform with how digital technologies work;
- provide recourse for people and companies who are recklessly accused of copyright infringement and who are recklessly sent improper DMCA take-down notices; and
- streamline arcane music licensing laws to encourage new and better business models for selling music.
Good stuff all around, though I’m not sure why statutory damages are dumped in with fair use, when it seems like they could be separate discussions entirely.
I think it’s great that Public Knowledge is pushing this (with the assistance, apparently, of the Stanford Cyberlaw Clinic and the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the UC Berkeley School of Law), though of course the chances of this actually getting anywhere seem slim. But, as a conversation starter on an important topic, it’s a good first step.
So even if the chances of it going anywhere are slim, I’d love to hear from defenders of current copyright law the reasons why any of these particular reforms don’t make sense.
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