IPEC's 2020 Report Highlights Federal Agencies' Pro-Copyright Initiatives

On January 7, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) released its Annual Intellectual Report to Congress for 2021. The report summarizes the Trump Administration's IP enforcement strategy and policy initiatives across numerous federal agencies. 

The IP Report rightly extols the constitutional basis for copyrights as well as its vitality to American prosperity: 

Intellectual property is integral to our nation’s economic competitiveness and the growth of our innovative economy. For instance, copyrights are not only economically important, but a key part of our culture and society. A well-functioning copyright system is essential. The U.S. copyright system is grounded in our Constitution, and built on centuries of extensive jurisprudence, statutes and regulations. 

Among other things, the IP Report recounts the Trump Administration's elevation of the IPEC within the Executive Branch: 

[U]nder the leadership of President Trump and with the support of Congress, the White House Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) was established as a new component agency of the Executive Office of the President and part of the National Economic Council, ensuring that in the decades to come the IPEC will be there to advise the President, coordinate policy, and advocate for American interests abroad.

The IP Report also overviews the Trump Administration's efforts through foreign trade agreements such as USMCA and other diplomacy efforts to ensure Americans' copyrighted works and other IP are better protected overseas. And the report includes appendices describing IP protection and enforcement initiatives undertaken over the last few years by Executive Branch Departments, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as well as the U.S. Copyright Office. The Justice Department's appendix, for instance, highlights notable criminal infringement prosecutions. And the Copyright Office's appendix discusses the Section 512 Study Report that was released in May 2020. 

 

The need for an overhaul of Section 512 is the subject of my January 12 Perspectives from FSF Scholars paper titled "Congress Should Hold Big Tech Accountable for Copyright Violations." This year, expect Free State Foundation scholars to have more to say about needed pro-IP policy actions. 

Trump Administration Releases its Joint Strategic Plan for IP Enforcement

On November 9, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) released the 2020 to 2023 Joint Strategic Plan by coordinated federal agencies for promoting and protecting intellectual property (IP) rights. 

The IPEC-developed plan provides an overview of recent and ongoing strategic efforts by the Trump Administration in all areas of IP policy, including copyrights. And it addresses domestic IP policy issues as well as initiatives to ensure that Americans' IP rights receive protections internationally. Included in the Joint Strategic Plan are efforts to better secure copyrights from infringement – particularly online infringement:

The [U.S.-China] Phase One Agreement requires China to provide effective and expeditious action against infringement in the online environment, including by requiring expeditious takedowns and by ensuring the validity of notices and counter notices. It also requires China to take effective action against e-commerce platforms that fail to take necessary measures against infringement. The United States and China agreed to address additional intellectual property issues, including with regard to unauthorized camcording of motion pictures and copyright protection for sporting event broadcasts, in future negotiations... 

 

The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals and corporations that engage in large-scale online copyright piracy (through illicit streaming services and anti-circumvention devices), which not only violates the rights of copyright holders but also often involves the commission of other serious crimes such as money laundering and tax evasion… In addition, the Justice Department, DHS, and other Federal agencies (as appropriate) will also continue to work with foreign law enforcement and other governmental offices to prosecute and otherwise prevent large-scale online copyright piracy, including the large-scale online pirates that are identified in USTR’s annual List of Notorious Markets... 

 

The Department of Homeland Security (U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)) will continue to modernize, update and expand the existing e-Recordation program, which provides right holders the opportunity to record their registered trademarks and copyrights to receive enhanced border enforcement of the IP. DHS will continue to provide education and outreach to the industry regarding the critical importance of obtaining trademark and copyright recordations in order to stem the flow of infringing goods into the United States. DHS will continue to educate personnel at all Ports of Entry on the importance of IP enforcement, and arm them with the necessary tools to detect and interdict infringing goods at the border...

 

The United States will continue to support and encourage the broader and more regularized adoption of voluntary "Trusted Notifier" agreements involving Internet domain registries. These agreements have proven effective in removing websites that engage in large-scale copyright piracy, as has been demonstrated in the implementation of the agreements that the MPAA (now, the MPA) entered into in 2016 with the Radix and Donut registries.

We will likely have more to say on the Joint Strategic Plan – particularly its call for further examination of the copyright "notice-and-takedown" system for removing expeditiously infringing content from Internet websites. Free State Foundation President Randolph May and I wrote about the need for reforms to the "notice-and-takedown" provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in our June 2020 Perspectives from FSF Scholars paper, "Copyright Office Report Should Spur Modernizing the DMCA."

IP Enforcement Coordinator's Report Spotlights Copyright Protection Progress

In late February, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) released its Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress. The Report provides "an overview of the Trump Administration's intellectual property enforcement strategy and policy efforts" across multiple agencies. IPEC's coordination and development of U.S. IP policy is intended "to promote innovation and creativity, and to ensure effective intellectual property protection and enforcement, domestically and abroad." 

Although the Trump Administration's enforcement policy "includes all areas of intellectual property and innovation policy," its policy activities regarding copyright protections merit attention. In 2018 progress was made in better securing copyrights. But there is plenty more that the Trump Administration and the 116th Congress can do to modernize and strengthen protections for Americans' creative works. 

One achievement touted in the Report is the passage of the Music Modernization Act of 2018. In an op-ed for The Hill and in several blog posts, Free State Foundation President Randolph May and I urged Congress to adopt reforms contained in that legislation. The Act (1) secured federal copyright protections for public performances via digital audio transmission of pre-1972 sound recordings; (2) established a streamlined process for producers, mixers, and sound engineers to directly receive royalty payments; and (3) facilitated more timely and accurate payment of songwriter "mechanical license" royalties and also provided blanket licenses for digital streaming services. As I explained in a February blog post, the widely endorsed MLC Coalition will be submitting to the U.S. Copyright Office a proposal for creating a collective entity to administer mechanical license royalties pursuant to the Act. 

An appendix in the IPEC Report highlighted the Copyright Office's expected release of its public study report on the "moral rights" of authors. Moral rights provisions in foreign nations typically restrict or prohibit sales or transfers of authors' rights to be acknowledged as creators of their works as well as their rights to control the integrity or future use of their works. In a Perspectives from FSF Scholars, Randolph May and I made the case that "current U.S. copyright law as well as contract law protect authors’ and creative artists’ rights to control whether they receive credit for their copyrightable works and whether their works are adapted into new media or transformed." We concluded: "Importing additional foreign-based moral rights restrictions into U.S. copyright law would create legal uncertainties, destabilize existing voluntary contract arrangements, reduce market freedom, and threaten the market value of copyrighted works."

The IPEC Report also referenced the Copyright Office's ongoing public study of Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). Section 512 contains the so-called "notice-and-takedown" provision under which copyright holders are entitled to give notice to an online service provider when infringing content is posted on its network or website. A provider receives immunity if it “responds expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing.” 

Unfortunately, owners of copyrighted sound recordings, movies, and other creative works suffer steep financial losses from mass online infringement. They also experience difficulties navigating the DMCA's outdated legal processes. The DMCA was adopted before user-upload sites such as YouTube became prevalent. In a Perspectives paper, Randolph May and I called attention to the urgent need to update the law, and we highlighted ways that Congress can reduce notice-and-takedown compliance burdens for copyright holders and improve protections from online infringement. That same paper also called on Congress to adopt a voluntary small claims court for resolving disputes over alleged online infringement involving copyright owners of modest means. 

Additionally, the IPEC Report identifies ongoing criminal copyright investigations and prosecutions by federal law enforcement. A Report appendix noted that the U.S. Justice Department "continues to pursue significant, large-scale piracy and counterfeiting operations." It cited the March 2018 sentencing for criminal copyright infringement of the owner of Sharebeast.com, which "operat[ed] a massive file-sharing infrastructure that distributed approximately 1 billion copies of copyrighted musical works through Internet downloads." Indeed, the Report cited the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) description of Sharebeast.com as "the largest online file-sharing website specializing in the reproduction and distribution of infringing copies of copyrighted music operating out of the United States." The RIAA estimated $6.3 billion in total loss to its members. Furthermore, according to the Report, the FBI had pending "23 investigations of copyright infringement related to software,""41 investigations of other copyright infringement," and "8 investigations of copyright infringement related to signal theft" of video programming at the end of fiscal year 2018. 

Randolph May and I published a Perspectives paper on how Congress ought to modernize criminal copyright law to combat online piracy. For starters, Congress should make online piracy via Internet streaming a felony. Prosecutions for criminal copyright infringement are not numerous, and they are limited to willful infringement of protected works. However, civil copyright enforcement is oftentimes inadequate for curbing large-scale online piracy operations like Sharebeast.com. In another Perspectives from FSF Scholars, we emphasized the need to modernize international agreements by requiring foreign nations to step up criminal copyright enforcement against large-scale online piracy. 

The IPEC Report is valuable in spotlighting key achievements and ongoing initiatives by the Trump Administration to strengthen protections for IP, including copyrighted works. In 2019, the Trump Administration and the 116th Congress ought to commit to building on that progress to better secure Americans IP rights and to advance our economy in the Digital Age.