On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet, held a hearing entitled “Promoting Investment and Protecting Commerce Online: The ART Act, the NET Act and Illegal Streaming”
We’ll have more coverage in a bit, but in sum, the testimony was all about turning illegal streaming into a felony. The (new) Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante, had this to say: “[I]t is clear that unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content is a significant problem that will only increase in severity if technology outpaces legal reforms.” The biggest problem is that the current law does not treat infringement by streaming (performance) the same as infringement by reproduction or distribution.
There was also testimony from the Copyright Alliance, and yes, the MPAA. The RIAA of course is missing because copyright law explicitly deals with the public performance/streaming of sound recordings, which are a separate animal from other types of works.
More to come…
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