Copyright Alliance CEO Highlights Software Industry’s IP Reliance

Diminishing software copyright by overbroad applications of fair use or denial of protection would be a “step in the wrong direction,” Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid said Tuesday at an FTC hearing. The software industry would be forced to retrench to a closed model, no longer sharing code and instead relying on proprietary contracts to keep code protected, he said. He repeated his organization’s support for HR-3945, which would establish a voluntary small claims tribunal in the Copyright Office. Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Meredith Rose urged the FTC to collaborate with the Copyright Office on the overlap between copyright and competition, which increased with IoT technology. Hearings on copyright continue Wednesday (see 1810110056).