Fair Use Project and EFF Submit Comments on the Department of Commerce’s Green Paper on Digital Copyright

Yesterday, the Fair Use Project at the Center for Internet & Society and the Electronic Frontier Foundation jointly submitted a set of comments in response to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Green Paper, Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy. These comments were filed in response to the DOC Internet Policy Task Force’s request for public comments in advance of a public meeting on these issues, which will be held on December 12, 2013 in Washington, DC.

While it’s well understood that the rise of the internet poses enforcement issues for copyright holders, we think it’s important to understand that these enforcement problems should not allow copyright holders to run roughshod over the rights of copyright users and internet service providers. To that end, our comments are focused on four issues addressed by the Green Paper: (1) accommodating remix and balanced intermediary licensing; (2) balancing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s safe harbors and notice-and-takedown provisions; (3) the ongoing importance of the first sale doctrine; and (4) problems with statutory damages.

Our comments are available at the end of this post.