IPTF Convening Dec. 9 Meeting on Improving Digital Marketplace for Copyrighted Works

The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force scheduled a meeting for Dec. 9 to facilitate a “constructive” stakeholder discussion about “ways to promote a more robust and collaborative digital marketplace for copyrighted works,” the IPTF and NTIA said Thursday. The meeting could result in the creation of a multistakeholder process with working groups to “tackle specific issues,” IPTF said. The gathering will “focus on initiatives in this space that relate to standards development, interoperability across digital registries, and cross-industry collaboration, to understand the current state of affairs, identify challenges, and discuss paths forward,” IPTF said. “It will also be an opportunity to explore potential approaches to the future adoption and integration into the online marketplace of relevant emerging technologies, such as blockchain technology and open-source platforms.” The event is to run 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Patent and Trademark Office's Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters. IPTF issued a white paper in January that recommended Congress pass legislation to amend guidance to courts for determining statutory damages in copyright infringement cases. It supported the Copyright Office's 2013 proposal to establish a small claims copyright court but opposed using legislation to address remixes’ status within the fair-use doctrine and digital transmissions’ place in the existing first-sale doctrine (see 1601280065).