CO Finds Media Copyright Protections Adequate Online

News organizations have “significant” copyright protections under current law, and the “challenges of funding journalism in the internet era do not appear to be copyright-specific,” the Copyright Office reported Thursday. The CO delivered the report at the request of Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; ranking member Thom Tillis, R-N.C.; and Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and Chris Coons, D-Del. The CO studied press publisher protections and evaluated the viability of EU-like protections that would allow media to demand payment for “third-party online uses of their news content, specifically from large news aggregators,” the CO said. The office doesn’t believe it has been proven that “any shortcomings in copyright law pose an obstacle to incentivizing journalism or that new copyright-like protections would solve the problems that press publishers face.” The CO doesn’t recommend “adopting a new ancillary copyright to bolster press publishers’ protections.” The report confirms what Re:Create, small publishers, consumers, libraries and academics have been saying: “a link tax or other ancillary copyright protections are not necessary, effective or constitutional,” said Re:Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel in a statement: All copyright-related policy options for supporting local journalism “must be off the table.” The report makes clear that copyright law isn’t the source or solution to journalism’s crisis, said Public Knowledge Senior Policy Counsel Meredith Rose: The report “helpfully notes that creating an ancillary right (such as a right to prevent outside linking to content) would go far beyond the bounds of existing copyright law, would likely be unable to accommodate basic free speech protections, and would otherwise raise constitutional concerns.” “There’s no question that objective journalism is a public good and critical to informing voters, so we appreciate the Copyright Office’s conclusion that new, European-style regulations are not necessary given existing copyright protections for news content,” said Computer and Communications Industry Association President Matt Schruers. "We were pleased that the Copyright Office recognized that the central issue is about lack of bargaining power with the dominant platforms," said News Media Alliance General Counsel Danielle Coffey. "However, they didn’t commit to a solution and that’s where Congress has stepped in," she said.