Marino, Chu, Comstock Refile Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act

Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pa., Judy Chu, D-Calif., and Barbara Comstock, R-Va., reintroduced their Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act (HR-890) Monday. The bill, originally filed during the 114th Congress, would separate the CO from the Library of Congress but keep it within the legislative branch. HR-890 also would require the CO’s director to regularly study the office’s IT systems to ensure those systems are “meeting the needs of the copyright community, including internal and external.” The introduction followed less than a week after comments were due on a CO-centric policy proposal by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich. (see 1701310047). The Goodlatte/Conyers proposal suggested giving the office more autonomy from the LOC (see 1612080061 and 1612220048). Goodlatte said last week he plans to act “soon” on the proposal (see 1702010069). The Copyright Alliance believes HR-890 “addresses imperative modernization issues and, in conjunction with the” Goodlatte/Conyers proposal, is "an important step toward modernizing the” CO, said CEO Keith Kupferschmid in a statement. “Modernization of the U.S. Copyright Office is crucial not just to those of us in the copyright community, but to the public and many others who rely upon the [CO's] services. Regardless of a stakeholder’s views on copyright policy, nearly everyone agrees that the [CO] cannot continue operating under its current structure and is in dire need of modernization.”