Music organisations lambast ‘broken’ DMCA
A coalition of music organisations has criticised the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as being “broken and antiquated”, in a filing at the US Copyright Office.
Organisations including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the National Music Publishers’ Association submitted the comments as part of the office’s ongoing study of copyright law.
In December last year, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte and ranking member John Conyers revealed a set of proposed reforms aimed at modernising the office to “meet the challenges of the 21st century”.
The RIAA said in a statement released on Tuesday, February 21: “The official comments come as both the US Copyright Office and Congress consider music licensing reform in 2017.”
The organisations described the “key failings” of the DMCA safe harbours that contribute to this “untenable, grim reality” for all content owners and creators.
According to the comments, the safe harbours’ failings have resulted in a “heavily skewed playing field”, where service providers can either comply with their “minimal” safe harbour obligations or use the safe harbours strategically in licensing negotiations with rights owners to extract rates “far below fair market value”.
The organisations added that service providers can help to restore much of the balance Congress intended to strike, by agreeing to adopt standard technical measures and/or voluntary measures to address the DMCA safe harbours’ key failings.
“The music community stands ready to work with service providers and other copyright owners on the development and implementation of standard technical measures and voluntary measures,” the organisations said.
But, the organisations warned that if the measures are not forthcoming, legislative solutions will be necessary to restore balance.
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