The Copyright Office needs to upgrade...
The Copyright Office needs to upgrade its services for digital interoperability and should add staff attorneys, said Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante at a House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Thursday hearing on oversight of the office (http://1.usa.gov/1AHlscs). “We can only build…
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a sustainable system if we ensure the Office has sufficient resources and a modern IT infrastructure,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., in prepared testimony. The recording of copyright licenses or transfers is a “cumbersome and costly process that requires manual examination and data entry,” which hasn’t been changed “for decades,” said Pallante in prepared remarks (http://1.usa.gov/Zsf4KZ). “How to bring [the office’s documents] online has been a major focus.” Pallante said $28 million of the office’s $45 million budget comes from registration fees. House Judiciary IP Subcommittee member John Conyers, D-Mich., lamented that Congress has cut the office’s budget by 7.2 percent since 2010, even though the office has been asked to take on additional responsibilities. House Judiciary IP Subcommittee Vice Chairman Tom Marino, R-Pa., suggested the office be made an independent agency under the authority of the president, rather than under the Library of Congress.