DMLA Meets With Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights, to Advocate for Our Members

Perlmutter serves as Director of the United States Copyright Office

Credit DMLA

Writeup by Thomas Smith CEO Gado Images DMLA Programs Chair

The Digital Media Licensing Association works hard to promote our member companies and advocate on behalf of their interests. In addition to holding our annual conference, providing members-only documents and legal information, and facilitating connections within our industry, the DMLA advocates on a variety of legal and legislative issues, including copyright law.

On Friday, February 26, 2021, DMLA advanced this aspect of our mission by meeting with Shira Perlmutter, the new Register of Copyrights and Director of the United States Copyright Office. When Ms. Perlmutter took office in October 2020, she became only the 14th Register to hold the position since its creation in 1897. That puts Ms. Perlmutter in an unparalleled position to implement copyright law in the United States and to work with stakeholders like the DMLA to ensure that the law protects the interests of agencies and creators.

The meeting was led by Nancy Wolff (CDAS) and Paul Reinitz (Getty Images) of the DMLA’s legal committee. Also in attendance for the DMLA were Margaret Vincent (Stocksy), Joe Naylor (Image Rights), Sejal Richbourg (Shutterstock), Leslie Hughes (iSpy Visuals) and Thomas Smith (Gado Images). Ms. Perlmutter represented the Library of Congress (of which the Copyright Office is a part). She was joined by her associates Maria Strong, Robert Kasunic and Regan Smith.

For 45 minutes, the DMLA’s representatives and Ms. Perlmutter discussed issues relating to emerging areas of copyright law. The discussion kicked off with several questions from Ms. Perlmutter about AI, synthetic content and copyright, including questions about how synthetic content currently is used, the business cases for the content and what kinds of content are being generated.

The discussion then turned to implementation of the newly passed CASE Act. Ms. Perlmutter indicated that the copyright office has a lot of work to do in a limited period of time, but that this is “an exciting moment in copyright history.” The Library of Congress is focusing on two sides of implementation — the regulatory work of implementing the new law, and the hiring of officers to evaluate cases. They are also working on communicating to the public regarding when and how the new law can be applied. A new website was launched recently to help accomplish this.

[embed]Copyright Small Claims and the Copyright Claims Board In December 2020, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act), which…copyright.gov

Ms. Perlmutter and her team shared:

• New processes around the CASE act should be “accessible and discourage abusive practices.”

• Notices regarding the new law are expected in the Spring.

• The recruitment process will move ahead on a similar timeframe.

DMLA’s representatives noted that increased enforcement under the CASE Act — as well as the requirement to register works — will lead to increased interest in using the copyright registration process . Our representatives asked about how registration processes would be improved to handle this demand.

Ms. Perlmutter’s team said they are working on a “reimagined” system with improved APIs both for copyright registration and for accessing copyright information. They cautioned that moving to this new system would require moving away from a legacy system, which is “as inflexible as you can imagine,” and that the timeline for full implementation would be relatively long. The goal is to implement the new system by 2024.

A main focus is to make the system accessible to all users so novices can understand how to register but advanced users will not be burdened with unnecessary information. Mr. Kasunic told the DMLA that this could take the form of a set of questions that users answer to guide them through the registration process. Mass registration of illustrations also was discussed, and DMLA made it clear that this was a pain point for many DMLA members.

The copyright office does not see a place for blockchain technologies in the current plan but is open to reviewing this in more detail down the road. A subscription model for registrations was also not deemed feasible at the moment.

The conversation then turned to Section 512 reform. Ms. Perlmutter shared that the Copyright Office would like to hear more from a variety of stakeholders on the issue, and invited DMLA to continue sharing our perspectives. The team also discussed how EU and US law might be harmonized and how EU laws could lead to implementation of new procedures in the US, especially if these procedures gain the backing of new tech companies. GDPR was not explicitly mentioned, but this is a likely parallel in the Copyright Office’s thought process, as implementation of GDPR in Europe led to procedural changes in the United States.

Ms. Perlmutter’s team shared that the CASE Act is expected to yield approximately 1,000 cases per year. They are not yet sure whether “too many people or not enough” will make use of the new law’s provisions, according to Ms. Smith. They also left open the idea of an even smaller claims system for cases of under $5,000.

The meeting ended on a very positive note, and Ms. Perlmutter invited the DMLA to continue meeting with her and her office, sharing perspectives on behalf of our members.

Advancing our members’ interests in discussions such as this is a core part of both DMLA’s mission and the work our membership supports. To join DMLA and participate in our work, visit http://www.digitalmedialicensing.org.