The Berkeley Center for Law and Technology and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal present The Next Great Copyright Act April 3-4, 2014.
In March of 2013 Maria Pallante, the Register of the U.S. Copyright Office, expressed her interest in working toward a comprehensive revision of U.S. copyright law, which she has optimistically called the next great copyright act. Congressman Goodlatte, chair of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet of the House Judiciary Committee, has decided to explore this idea by holding a series of hearings about copyright reform issues. The Department of Commerce has recently published a Green Paper about the need for some updates to U.S. copyright law. Although the drafters of the Copyright Act of 1976 hoped that this legislation would prove to be flexible and forward-looking enough to serve the country well over time, consensus has been building in recent years that the current law needs an overhaul so that it is more comprehensible and provides a better framework for enabling copyright law to adapt to the challenges posed by emergent technologies. This conference will bring together scholars, policymakers, and representatives of various stakeholder groups to consider what changes would make for a next great copyright act.
Hat tip: IP and IT Conferences. mw
