Commerce Takes Some Flak Over Copyright Green Paper

The Commerce Department's new "green paper" on balancing copyright protection and online innovation does not get that balance right, according to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), whose members include Google, eBay, Dish, Microsoft and Sprint.

Fair use fan Public Knowledge also suggested there was more emphasis on enforcement than on protecting fair use limitations and exceptions. Public Knowledge VP of legal affairs Sherwin Siy commended the Administration for recognizing the need for copyright reform and raising some important issues. But it also said that the report "fails to recognize fully the negative effects of certain copyright enforcement policies on the public" and "focuses in more detail, more frequently, on updating exclusive rights and enforcement measures than on preserving essential limitations and exceptions..." Siy suggested the paper leaned toward rights holders. He said it does not "adequately" discuss network level content-filtering and "will commonly refer to the need to address concerns of creators, rights holders, and services, without addressing the interests of the public-the audiences and consumers who are the ultimate beneficiaries of copyright law."