The Electronic Frontier Foundation temporarily withdrew its appeal of World Wide Web Consortium Director Tim Berners-Lee's decision to advance the encrypted media extensions (EME) specification as a W3C recommendation for playing copyrighted video on a browser but plans to refile its objection at the end of next week, blogged EFF Special Adviser Cory Doctorow in an updated Thursday post. He said the appeal was withdrawn for "purely logistical reasons" after consulting with W3C CEO Jeff Jaffe on timing. The previous day, Doctorow wrote that EFF formally appealed the July 6 decision, saying it was "improper" for Berners-Lee "to overrule the widespread members' objections and declare EME fit to be published as a W3C Recommendation." Work on the specification began four years ago and was aimed at enabling video playback with digital rights management (DRM) protection in a browser without the need for a plug-in (see 1703070054). "EME offers a better user experience, bringing greater interoperability, privacy, security and accessibility to viewing encrypted video on the Web," W3C said last week. Doctorow, EFF's W3C Advisory Committee representative, said last week a covenant is needed to require W3C members to promise to use laws like Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201 to go after people who infringe copyrighted media and not against those who bypassed DRM for legal reasons such as security researchers or those who make videos more accessible to disabled people. On Wednesday, he said: "Through this appeal, we ask that the membership be formally polled on this question: 'Should a covenant protecting EME's users and investigators against anti-circumvention regulation be negotiated before EME is made a Recommendation?'"

The Copyright Office opened up a new round of its triennial rulemaking process for granting exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Section 1201 rules barring circumvention of technological protection mechanisms. The Library of Congress granted 10 Section 1201 exemptions in 2015 (see 1510270056 and 1510280071). The CO subsequently studied whether to recommend Congress amend Section 1201 but ultimately recommended only some changes aimed at improving the rulemaking process and allowing for the creation of additional permanent exemptions (see 1601050055, 1611010059 and 1706220014). The CO said Friday it will use a “new, streamlined procedure” for considering renewals of exemptions granted during the last rulemaking proceeding, with renewed exemptions allowed to remain in force through October 2021. Petitions for exemption renewals are due July 31, while petitions for new exemptions are due Sept. 13, the CO said in a Federal Register notice. Comments on renewal petitions are due Sept. 13, the office said.

The value of industries that depend on the fair use doctrine and other copyright exceptions tripled since 2002, making “balanced” copyright law language “as important as ever,” reported the Computer & Communications Industry Association Friday. CCIA said “fair use industries” contributed $2.8 trillion to the U.S.’ gross domestic product in 2014 and accounted for 16 percent of the economy. “The more we know about the fair use economy, the better Democrats and Republicans can formulate policies for economic growth,” said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., during a CCIA webcast. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, said the right balance in copyright law helps protect innovation while allowing consumers to resell products that they own. “As the U.S. considers trade agreements and other policies, objective data quantifying the economic benefit of balanced copyright is critically important,” said CCIA Vice President-Law and Policy Matthew Schruers in a news release. “Fair use protections are crucial here at home and would promote U.S. exports.”

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, European Digital Media Association, Mozilla and more than 60 others urged the European Council and European Parliament Monday to put work on copyright law revamp legislation “back on the right track” while “there is still time.” Both EU bodies have drawn criticism from CCIA and other U.S.-based entities over the direction of work in EC’s digital single market strategy. Consideration of a possible pan-EU ancillary copyright, seen as a tax on use of news snippets, has been a lightning rod (see 1703080067). The ancillary copyright proposal and language that would require service providers to monitor content uploaded by subscribers to ensure it's not copyright-protected are “backward-looking,” the entities wrote EU officials: The proposal should be rejected in favor of “a more ambitious agenda for positive reform.”

The Copyright Office released an updated version Wednesday of its online system for designating and searching for agents to receive copyright infringement claim notifications under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The CO finished developing the system last year and officially deployed it in December. Online service providers that previously had designated agents with the CO will have until the end of this year to submit a new designation electronically via the online system (see 1610310050). The new version updates the user account registration process to “make it simpler and easier to complete,” said a news release. The office published in Wednesday's Federal Register a technical change to the rules governing the system to reflect the update.

A serious push to enact the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1836) “will be politically challenging,” said Tom Sydnor, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute's Center for Internet, Communications and Technology, in a Tuesday blog post. “Nevertheless, from international, national, and economic perspectives, it remains what it has always been -- a 'public-policy no-brainer.'” HR-1836, refiled in March (see 1703300064), would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin to pay performance royalties. Attempts to enact a terrestrial performance right have been lightning rods for broadcaster criticism (see 1702020064 and 1703030059). The “principle of technological neutrality” created in the 1976 Copyright Act “strongly suggests the propriety of eliminating the analog-broadcast-radio exception to [U.S.] public performance rights,” Sydnor said. “It makes no sense for [U.S.] copyright laws to give -- for free -- to radio broadcasters who use old, analog technologies public-performance rights that providers of satellite or internet-based radio-like services must pay for under existing [U.S.] compulsory licenses.” U.S. copyright laws should be “just as applicable and broadly construed as applied to later-developed 21st-century distribution technologies as they were to distribution technologies developed and deployed well before 1976,” Sydnor said.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers collected almost $1.6 billion in revenue in 2016 and distributed $918 million to its songwriter, composer and music publisher members, the performing rights organization (PRO) said Wednesday. ASCAP said its licensing revenue increased almost 6 percent year-over-year to $759 million because of a 41 percent increase in revenue from audio streaming services and increased revenue from satellite radio services. The PRO's foreign revenue increased to $300 million, up $1.5 million over its 2015 foreign revenue total. ASCAP's “record high revenues and distributions in 2016 are a testament to the amazing repertory of music we are privileged to represent, and to our investment in innovations that enable us to continue to grow revenues, leverage our scale and increase efficiencies in our operations,” said CEO Elizabeth Matthews in a news release.

NAB looks forward to working with new RIAA President Mitch Glazier on "finding common ground on issues of importance to our respective industries," said NAB CEO Gordon Smith in a news release Monday. Earlier that day, RIAA said Glazier will be promoted to chairman-CEO effective in January 2019; Chairman-CEO Cary Sherman retires, effective at the end of 2018 (see the personals section of the April 4 issue of this publication). NAB and RIAA have disagreed on music royalty issues. The groups declined further comment Tuesday.

U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer is “deeply concerned” about counterfeiting and piracy in China, he told the Senate Finance Committee in writing after a recent confirmation hearing (see 1703150027). If confirmed, Lighthizer said, he will use all relevant trade policy tools, including the Special 301 Report and “new procedures” provided under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, to address Chinese counterfeits.

The Department of Commerce's Internet Policy Task Force plans a public meeting April 18 on ways “to communicate to consumers regarding license terms and restrictions in connection with online transactions involving copyrighted works,” said the Patent and Trademark Office in a notice to appear in Tuesday's Federal Register. The meeting will be a follow-up on the IPTF's 2016 white paper that opposed using legislation to address digital transmissions’ place in the existing first-sale doctrine (see 1601280065). IPTF recommended creating a “multistakeholder process to establish best practices to improve consumers’ understanding of license terms and restrictions in connection with online transactions involving creative works,” PTO said in the Federal Register. The paper said “consumers would benefit from more information on the nature of these transactions, including whether they are paying for temporary access to content or for ownership of a copy, in order to instill greater confidence and enhance participation in the online marketplace.” The April 18 meeting will focus on creating voluntary best practices and other nonlegislative solutions, including identifying “best practices for how to inform consumers about the intellectual property rights associated with the content they are accessing or acquiring, and what activities they are permitted to engage in without implicating those rights,” PTO said. IPTF is particularly interested in the perspectives of “particular online services that offer digital transmissions of works to consumers, as well as creators, right holders, consumers, marketing professionals, user interface designers, public interest groups, and academics.” The meeting is set for 1-5 p.m. at the Global Intellectual Property Academy in PTO's Alexandria, Virginia, headquarters.