CO Needs Full Records System Overhaul, Adobe Says

The Copyright Office “needs to go further” in updating its records system than its current digitization project, by repurposing existing records information “into a more modern, easy-to-use database," said Adobe Associate General Counsel Scott Evans in a Tuesday blog post. “Getting new copyrights registered and finding information about existing copyrights is not easy, and can become a major obstacle for those looking to create and protect their intellectual property without infringing on someone else’s. Given the Copyright Office’s importance to the creative process, the current copyright system does not do justice to the community it serves.” Completely overhauling the CO’s current records system “would save a huge amount of time and money that is currently spent on avoidable legal issues” involving inadvertent misuse of copyrighted material likely caused by difficulties accessing copyright records via the existing CO system, Evans said. If the CO “doesn’t modernize, it could seriously jeopardize future creative leadership because there is no system at this point that works efficiently for the creative community,” he said. “It is also time for Congress to revisit the Copyright Act and make the revisions necessary to bring the U.S. copyright law in line with current technological innovation.”