Thompson Coburn LLP -
Mark Sableman, Lexology; Copyright Office identifies visual arts copyright problems, solutions
"Our forms are antiquated and difficult to use. Our definition of
“publication” is important but hard to understand and apply. Our process
for enforcing rights is tedious, costly, and time consuming.
Those are key takeaways from a report by the Copyright Office
to Congress about visual works copyrights. And that’s not all of the
bad news. In addition to deficiencies in its own processes, the
Copyright Office reported the hardly surprising conclusion that people
on the Internet often misuse copyrighted works and mislead users about
copyright...
The report, titled “Copyright and Visual Works: The Legal Landscape of
Opportunities and Challenges,” concerns a recent “holistic analysis of
the copyright landscape in which visual artists must work.” Based on
comments from industry and the public, the Copyright Office identified
three major challenges for visual artist copyrights: the registration
process, licensing, and enforcement."
