Be more lenient in copyright cases, US government says
The US Copyright Act should be amended to become more favourable towards fair use and change the way that damages are awarded in cases, a report from the US Department of Commerce has argued.
In a white paper released yesterday, January 28, the Internet Policy Task Force (IPTF) at the department outlined ways judges and juries could be given more guidance when assessing damages.
The white paper, called “White Paper on Remixes, First Sale, and Statutory Damages”, discusses three topics: the legal framework for creating remixes; the relevance and scope of the “first sale doctrine”; and the appropriate amount of damages.
On damages, the paper recommends that judges or juries should take several factors into account including the defendant’s financial situation; the value or nature of the work infringed; and the circumstances, duration, and scope of the infringement.
It adds that high damages in some cases could be alleviated by establishing a small claims tribunal with caps on awards.
The paper also references the mixing of existing copyrighted works, recommending alterations to the act to make it easier for remixers to understand when use is fair and when they should obtain licences.
Under current copyright law, infringers found to be innocent could pay a minimum of $200 in damages per work.
Usually, if a defendant says it did not know the work was copyrighted despite a copyright notice appearing on the work, the innocent infringer defence is rejected.
But the IPTF said courts should still consider it a valid defence even if a copyright symbol was present.
“If a defendant asserts that he was not aware of and had no reason to believe that the work was protected by copyright, the existence of a copyright notice would tend to undermine that claim. But if a defendant mistakenly believed that he was engaging in a fair use, the notice would not undermine that defence,” the paper said.
The IPTF was established in 2010 to identify public policy and operational issues affecting the ability to boost economic growth and job creation online.
Penny Pritzker, US secretary of commerce, said: “Through extensive public consultations, the IPTF has produced a detailed analysis of important policy issues raised for copyright in the digital age.
“Its recommendations will maintain strong and balanced copyright protection while preserving the free flow of information required for innovation and our digital economy to thrive.”
