The White House thinks “federal criminal law should be modernized to include felony criminal penalties for those who engage in large-scale streaming of illegal, infringing content,” said Alex Niejelow, White House IP enforcement coordinator chief of staff, in a blog post Wednesday. Such laws are “already on the books" for the "reproduction and distribution of infringing content,” he said. Niejelow was responding to two petitions to the White House, asking that penalties not be increased for online media sharing (see petitions here and here). The petitions invoked the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) (HR-3261), which would have imposed much stiffer penalties for such infringement. SOPA was tabled after public outcry. “We should keep in mind that a felony is meant to reflect significant criminal activity,” Niejelow said. “Congress should consider the question of whether changes in the business model of streaming-based infringement also counsel corresponding changes in the way we set the harm thresholds … required to establish a felony penalty for illegal streaming under the criminal copyright statute.” Those thresholds include the number of infringing acts, their monetary value and the “statutory” time frame in which those acts are committed, Niejelow said.
Disney Movies Anywhere partnered with Vudu to give movie watchers more access to Disney, Marvel and Pixar movies. Users can unlock the digital copy from Disney DVDs and Blu-rays purchased at Walmart, Vudu said Monday in a blog post. Connecting Disney Movies Anywhere with Vudu accounts is free, it said.
House Judiciary Committee member Doug Collins, R-Ga., will be the next Congressional Creative Rights Caucus co-chairman, he said in a statement Thursday. Collins will replace outgoing caucus co-chairman and House IP Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., as the caucus’s top Republican. House Judiciary Committee member Judy Chu, D-Calif., will continue as the top Democrat on the caucus. “I’ve admired Congresswoman Chu’s expertise and passion about creative rights issues since I got to Congress two years ago,” said Collins: “If we can start with raising that kind of awareness, I know our legislative goals will fall into place.” Collins is the sponsor of the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-4079) (see 1406190093) and a co-sponsor of the Respecting Senior Performers as Essential Cultural Treasures Act (HR-4772) (see 1410090092). Chu is a co-sponsor of both bills. The Copyright Alliance and SoundExchange are hosting an event at 5 p.m. Monday in Rayburn 2237 to announce Collins’ new position, said a spokeswoman.
The FTC seeks comment on its proposed settlement with patent assertion entity (PAE) MPHJ Technology Investments. The settlement, announced last week, would prohibit MPHJ and the Farney Daniels law firm from sending out deceptive prelitigation demand letters to entities the PAE claims have violated its patents. The FTC had been investigating MPHJ’s sending of more than 9,000 demand letters over its patent portfolio, which includes multiple patents on scanning documents for attachment to emails (see 1411060044). The FTC will accept comments on the proposed settlement through Dec. 8, the commission said Thursday in the Federal Register.
The Writers Guild of America, West welcomed Sen. Patrick Leahy’s, D-Vt., introduction of the Copyright and Marriage Equality Act, in a news release Wednesday. The bill is designed to close a “loophole” in the Copyright Act that “discriminates among lawfully married couples,” said a news release from Leahy’s office Wednesday. “A provision in the Copyright Act grants rights to the surviving spouse of a copyright owner only if the marriage is recognized in the owner’s state of residence at the time he or she dies,” it said. “It is wrong for the federal government to deny benefits or privileges to couples who have lawfully wed," said Leahy. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., introduced the same bill (HR-5617) in September. That bill has 32 House co-sponsors.
Major U.S. wireless carriers support handset unlocking and will adhere to six principles as part of a voluntary commitment made to provide enhanced transparency and disclosure of carriers’ device unlocking policies, said CTIA General Counsel Michael Altschul Monday in a blog post. Among the principles are full disclosure and development unlocking policies for postpaid and prepaid devices, Altschul said. Petitions were due Monday at the Library of Congress’ Copyright Office as it begins the sixth triennial “anti-circumvention” rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, he said. “CTIA will observe the proceeding as it develops, and participate as appropriate, consistent with our commitment to unlocking," he said. "The exemption rules are revised every three years. Based on the prior proceedings, we anticipate that software used to 'lock' cellphones to a carrier’s network will be included in this proceeding."
SiriusXM’s Q3 earnings of $136 million make clear that the company should pay pre-1972 public performance royalties, said the musicFIRST Coalition in a blog post Friday. SiriusXM “pleads poverty to Congress and runs to the courts to avoid paying pre-72 royalties while gorging on profits that would make Scrooge McDuck blush,” it said. The digital streaming company didn’t comment. SiriusXM has lost two recent California court battles on the issue of pre-1972 performance royalties. Like U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Judge Philip Gutierrez in September (see 1409240079), Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel handed down a decision in October in favor of plaintiffs Flo & Eddie, who own the sound recordings of The Turtles, a 1960’s music group (see 1410160001). SiriusXM is appealing those rulings, said musicFIRST. Public performance royalties are expected to play a key role in music licensing debates on Capitol Hill next year (see 1410090092).
The MPAA and National Association of Theatre Owners updated their joint policy on preventing film theft in theaters to "fully integrate" wearables, the groups said in a statement Wednesday. The groups "have a long history of welcoming technological advances and recognize the strong consumer interest in smart phones and wearable ‘intelligent’ devices," their statement said. "As part of our continued efforts to ensure movies are not recorded in theaters, however, we maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward using any recording device while movies are being shown. As has been our long-standing policy, all phones must be silenced and other recording devices, including wearable devices, must be turned off and put away at show time." Those who don’t comply "may be asked to leave," they said. If theater managers suspect illegal recording activity is taking place, they will call the police "when appropriate," they said. MPAA representatives didn’t comment about the perceived threat of wearables in the campaign to prevent theatrical film theft, as smart watches generally lack the AV recording capabilities found on smartphones or tablets.
Namecheap and WordPress had the highest scores for protecting against copyright and trademark “bullies,” said an Electronic Frontier Foundation report released Monday. The report showed what "online service providers are doing to protect users from baseless copyright and trademark complaints," said an EFF news release. Thirteen Internet companies were scored on a five-star system with five corresponding categories, it said. Companies received a star for achieving each of the following: a complete Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice and takedown process; publicly documenting DMCA counter-notices; requiring a formal notice of a trademark complaint; having a procedure that allows users to contest trademark complaints; and releasing a transparency report on copyright and trademark complaints. Namecheap and WordPress were the only companies to receive five stars; Etsy, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Twitter and Vimeo each received four stars, said EFF. Tumblr was the only company that didn’t receive a star.
The FCC shouldn't grant a waiver of home networking output rules for cable operators that use TiVo set-top boxes, said standards body Digital Living Network Alliance (http://bit.ly/1wtQzt9) in reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 97-80. TiVo had asked for the waiver in a petition (http://bit.ly/1vJGlFR), saying DLNA had taken too long to create a standard for home networking interfaces. TiVo’s equipment doesn’t conform to the goals or requirements of the rules and shouldn't receive a waiver, DLNA said. TiVo disagreed, saying that the commission should grant the waiver. “Consumers who lease TiVo products from their cable operators already enjoy the benefits of home networking that the rule seeks to enable,” TiVo said. “Under these circumstances, strict compliance with the rule would serve no public interest benefit.” Rather than granting the waiver, the FCC should rule that the home networking requirement was invalidated by the EchoStar decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, NCTA said. “The market has been providing far more investment, innovation and consumer choice in technological approaches to sharing programming than a government technology mandate can.” If a waiver is granted, it should be industrywide rather than specific to TiVo, NCTA said.