The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it’s seeking comment on its annual special 301 review process on “notorious” IP markets, which identifies “priority” countries where policies allow copyright infringement and other IP rights violations to occur. USTR’s 2015 annual special 301 report didn’t name any country as a “priority foreign country” for IP rights violations but identified China and India among 13 priority watch list countries. USTR placed 24 other countries on its lower-tier watch list (see 1504300061). Comments on the 2016 special 301 review are due Feb. 5, USTR said in Monday’s Federal Register. Foreign governments will have until Feb. 19 to file comments or notices that they intend to testify at a planned March 1 public hearing on the special 301 review, USTR said. The March 1 hearing is at USTR’s Washington, D.C., offices. USTR said it plans to release its 2016 special 301 report around April 30.

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.”

The Copyright Office said it's planning a study of implementation of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 1201, including the CO's triennial rulemaking process for granting exemptions to Section 1201's ban on circumvention of technological protection measures. The Library of Congress granted 10 CO-recommended exemptions to Section 1201 in October, prompting some stakeholders to renew their calls for Congress to place limits on what they believe is DMCA's expanding scope (see 1510270056). The CO is also doing a separate study on what provisions in existing U.S. copyright laws are implicated by the spread of software in everyday products and whether those laws affect innovation in the use of software in products (see 1512150050). The CO's planned study will also examine the existing permanent exemptions to Section 1201, the law's anti-trafficking provisions and other Section 1201-related consumer issues, the office said in a notice set to appear in Tuesday's Federal Register. The current triennial Section 1201 exemptions review process “is resource-intensive for both participants and the Office,” the CO said Monday. The office is considering adjusting the triennial process to allow for presumptive renewal of previously granted exemptions “when there is no meaningful opposition to renewal.” The requirement that previously granted exemptions be re-evaluated during each triennial process is “an area of particular concern" given that several of the exemptions granted in October were essentially the same as exemptions granted during the 2012 triennial review, the CO said. The office said it's seeking comment on its proposed study, including whether the office should consider other Section 1201 provisions in its review. Comments are due Feb. 25 and reply comments are due March 25. The CO said it also plans at least one public meeting to gather additional comments after the comment deadlines lapse.

The Copyright Office seeks comment by Feb. 16 on what provisions​ in existing U.S. copyright law “are implicated by the ubiquity of software in everyday products, and the effect of copyright law on technological advancements in such products.” Reply comments are due March 18, the CO said in Tuesday's Federal Register. The CO said it's doing the study in response to a request from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. They sought the study in October, days before the CO and Library of Congress released 10 exemptions to Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201 (see 1510230036). Topics the CO wants to study include whether the application of copyright law to software in everyday products “enables or frustrates innovation and creativity in the design, distribution and legitimate uses of new products and innovative services,” the office said. The CO said it's also seeking information on whether legitimate business models for copyright owners “could be improved or undermined by changes to copyright law in this area.” The study isn't “intended to examine or address more general questions about software and copyright protection,” the CO said.

The Copyright Alliance urged consumers to exercise caution to avoid buying products that contain counterfeit or pirated content. “In addition to inadvertently purchasing a dud gift for someone special, those who fail to heed these warnings may find that they receive unwanted ‘gifts’ of their own -- such as malware, identity theft or stolen credit cards,” CEO Keith Kupferschmid said in a Thursday news release. Consumers should always be aware that “if a product price seems too good to be true, it probably is,” the alliance said. “Be especially careful about extreme bargains on software, music, movies and video games.” The group also suggested consumers buy products only from secure websites, review product packaging for glaring errors as a way of identifying counterfeit products and consult guides on legitimate online retailers.

MPAA drew attention to industry-led efforts to address online piracy issues. As House Judiciary Committee members visit California on their copyright "listening tour," MPAA said Monday it isn't encouraging addressing piracy via legislation. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and nine other House Judiciary members are expected to attend one or both of the copyright roundtables planned in California as part of the committee’s Copyright Act review. The two sessions -- one after our deadline Monday at Santa Clara University and another Tuesday at the University of California, Los Angeles -- are likely to draw attention from the wide range of copyright stakeholders present in California (see 1511060052). MPAA Chief-Global Content Protection Dean Marks is set to speak during the UCLA roundtable and House Judiciary members will meet MPAA executives during a private dinner Tuesday. “We are currently focusing our attention on forging cross-industry, voluntary initiatives to ensure a safe and innovative digital environment, rather than seeking a legislative rewrite of copyright policy,” MPAA said in a blog post. Industry stakeholders “have made significant progress working with payment processors” like PayPal to “cut off the flow of subscription and advertising money to pirate sites -- one of the most effective ways of tackling online piracy,” MPAA said. The online advertising industry has joined with MPAA members and others to form the Trustworthy Accountability Group’s Brand Integrity Program Against Piracy to help advertisers “screen out websites that present unacceptably high risks of engaging in copyright or trademark infringement,” MPAA said. Other industry-led efforts include formation of the Copyright Alert System and publicizing the need for attention on “the use of domain names to engage in or facilitate unlawful conduct, and the role that search services play as a gateway by which many users discover and access sites involved in illegal activity,” MPAA said. The group said it supports efforts to “modernize” the Copyright Office and detach it from the Library of Congress. “Copyright is too important to be a secondary issue within the Library’s broader portfolio,” MPAA said. “The time has come to make the Register a nominated and confirmed position as the head of a stand-alone Copyright Office within the legislative branch.”

Public Knowledge wants Congress to fix what it calls a "broken" process to grant exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. DMCA makes it illegal for people to bypass digital locks on copyrighted works such as software that runs many devices. "This means it can keep people from making repairs to the equipment in their car, accessing data from their blood glucose or heart monitors, using their cellphones with a new phone company, and more," said Public Knowledge on its website Wednesday. While the Copyright Office grants exemptions (see 1510280071) to DMCA, Public Knowledge said advocates for blind readers, medical device patients and 3D-printer users have to make their cases for exemptions every three years. "These are just a few of the burdensome and unnecessary locks that consumers should be able to circumvent," said the group, saying the three-year cycle is unnecessary.

MPAA wants the joint strategic plan of the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator to ensure the "highly significant resources and expertise of the federal government are deployed efficiently" against those stealing intellectual property, the association said in comments to IPEC. The comment period for the three-year joint strategic plan, which will become effective in 2016, ended last week, with conflicting suggestions (see 1510190052). MPAA said that since the implementation of the last joint strategic plan, the use of domain names for unlawful conduct, the prevalence of piracy websites prominently appearing on search engines and the use of data storage services to host websites trafficking stolen content have been key areas in which progress has been lagging. MPAA asked IPEC to address those issues in the plan being developed and to continue coordinating enforcement actions against those who steal copyrighted material. The group suggested IPEC continue to facilitate and encourage industry collaboration on initiatives to address IP theft.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is urging the Copyright Office to grant several proposed software-related exemptions to Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201's anti-circumvention rules. He said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that failure to grant those exemptions “would be a massive mistake, and Americans need to speak up.” The CO is considering 27 exemptions as part of its triennial Section 1201 exemptions rulemaking process, including several exemptions for unlocking or jailbreaking mobile devices. The CO is expected to release its ruling on the exemptions Oct. 28 (see 1510080054). Wyden highlighted a proposed exemption that would allow security researchers to circumvent technological protection measures on vehicle software, saying the exemption would have allowed researchers to detect Volkswagen's use of software in its diesel vehicles to manipulate the results of emissions tests far earlier. “The obstacle thrown up against access to copyrighted software makes it more difficult for researchers and engineers to find similar problems in the future,” Wyden said. The Electronic Frontier Foundation made a similar argument last month shortly after the EPA uncovered the software manipulation (see 1509220060). Wyden also called for the CO to grant exemptions related to medical devices and other connected devices. “Coffee makers, thermostats, hot-water heaters, blow driers, watches, fireplaces and cars are all increasingly controlled by software,” Wyden said. “Their owners should be able to examine these devices’ software -- which is often as important as the hardware.”

The Copyright Alliance will become a “superhero for the copyright community,” new Executive Director Keith Kupferschmid said Wednesday in a blog post. “It astonishes me how the perceived divide” between the copyright and technology communities “is so often exaggerated and emphasized,” Kupferschmid said, noting his experience working with both communities in his former role as Software & Information Industry Association general counsel. “I do not perceive the copyright and technology communities as warring factions. Both groups rely on copyright to promote and protect their creativity and innovation and both depend on innovation and technology to develop different models for making these new creations and inventions available to the public to enjoy.” The Copyright Alliance should “become a clearinghouse for copyright information” for a diverse group of stakeholders, Kupferschmid said. The group should “assist these creators by providing services that will help them register their works with the Copyright Office (CO) and to enforce their rights against those who violate them,” he said. The Copyright Alliance should also make its primary policy focus the modernization of the CO since it's the main issue that all stakeholders agree on, Kupferschmid said.