The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), which represents a variety of big tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, eBay, Oracle and others, has come on strong lately as a defender against the ridiculous and unnecessary expansion of overly aggressive copyright law. This is good news — seeing as some of the companies it represents haven’t always seemed so enlightened on the subject. I was lucky to meet with some CCIA folks about a month ago, and they definitely seemed to recognize that a more draconian copyright policy actually does much more harm than good to the companies whose interests they represent. You may recall that it was the CCIA, a few months back, that put out the marvelous report that used the same exact methodology that the big pro-copyright lobbyists have used to claim the “size” of the economic impact on copyright, to point out that the economic impact of fair use trumps that by a wide margin.
So it’s great — if not surprising — to see that the CCIA’s filing to the USTR for the Special 301 report (pdf) actually matches much of my own filing, though from a more legalistic perspective (and focuses on Canada). The key points are the same, however: the Constitutional basis for copyright has never been that “more is better,” but that we should be seeking the most effective ways to “promote the progress.” Second, it notes that countries should be free to make their own policy decisions on copyright law, rather than being pressured into them by the US. It further notes that the USTR Special 301 process shouldn’t be focused on legislative and policy issues, but merely enforcement of the law. Unfortunately, it’s gotten far away from that.
There were a ton of great filings to the USTR that I’ve seen already, and hopefully the USTR really does pay attention to those beyond the usual crew of entertainment industry and pharmaceutical industry lobbyists, to recognize that this issue is a lot more complex than it has, at times, been treated in the past. Still, it’s great to see a group like CCIA add its important voice to the discussion, too.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story
