On June 26, the House Judiciary Committee held a Copyright Office oversight hearing with the newly appointed Register of Copyrights, Karyn Temple. The hearing was the first Copyright Office oversight hearing since 2014. Following opening remarks by the Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-GA), focusing on the importance of the copyright-intensive industries to the U.S. economy and the Copyright Office in facilitating that, the Register gave a brief overview of recent developments at the Copyright Office. The hearing focused mostly on the Music Modernization Act as well as the recently introduced CASE Act that would create an alternative small-claims court for copyright owners. With regards to the Copyright Office modernization, Register Temple discussed the importance of the IT modernization efforts. She also stated that the Office expects to pilot the new recordation and public records systems next year, while the new registration system is currently in user interface development stage. Watch the hearing here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
