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23 February 2015Copyright

US House of Representatives to hold hearing on Copyright Office

The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has announced that it will hold a hearing on the function of the US Copyright Office.

The hearing will, as part of the committee’s review of US copyright law, examine the office’s current structure. The Copyright Office is a department within the Library of Congress, the legislature’s research arm.

Keith Kupferschmid, general counsel at trade group the Software & Information Industry Association will be a witness at the hearing, along with Lisa Dunner, a partner at Dunner Law, who will represent the American Bar Association.

They will be joined by Nancy Mertzel, a partner from Schoeman Updike Kaufman & Stern, who will be there on behalf of the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and Bob Brauneis, a professor from George Washington University Law School.

In a statement, House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte said it would continue its comprehensive copyright review by examining the function of the office.

He said that the office’s “unique” position within the Library of Congress can present its “own set of challenges” on allocating resources and raises constitutional questions.

“Our hearing will look at how these challenges ultimately affect the Copyright Office’s ability to carry out its core mission of registering and recording US copyrights,” Goodlatte added.

The hearing will be webcast live at 13.30pm EST on Thursday (February 26) at judiciary.house.gov.

The US Copyright Office has about 450 employees, who examine and register thousands of copyright claims to books, films, computer software, photographs and other works of authorship.

In the fiscal year of 2011 (the 12 months ending September 30, 2011), the office processed more than 700,000 registration claims, and says it holds the world’s largest database of copyrighted works and copyright ownership information.

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