PhotoResearcher Newsletter

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Pending Copyright Act Amendments

By Joel Hecker, Esq.

Advance Notes: Two bills which would amend the Copyright Act , including an enhancement to the available civil penalties for copyright infringement, and creation of new enforcement offices with significant funding, have recently been introduced in Congress. The Senate version, Bill S. 2317, entitled Intellectual Property Enforcement Act of 2007, was introduced on November 7, 2007. The House of Representatives version, Bill H.R. 4279, formally known as the “Priority Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007" but referred to as the “PRO IP” Act for short, was introduced on December 5, 2007.

Although both bills have bipartisan support and seek to strengthen and harmonize the protection of intellectual property, including copyrights and trademarks , it is likely that they will be significantly modified as they make their way through the legislation process.

The Senate Bill S.2317 can be found in its entirety at:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-2317

The House Bill H.R. 4279 can be found in its entirety at:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-4279

Copyright Registration Certificate

Both proposed bills would provide that a Certificate of Copyright Registration will satisfy the requirements needed for copyright infringement litigation, “regardless of any inaccurate information contained in the certificate,” unless it was willfully known to be inaccurate and the Register of Copyrights would have refused registration if the inaccurate information was known. If inaccuracies are alleged during a lawsuit, the court would be required to obtain the advice of the Register on whether the Register would have denied registration if the inaccuracies were known.

This would eliminate the technical defense in copyright infringement litigation that the Certificate of Registration was inaccurate, unless the inaccuracy was material.

Statutory Damages

A copyright owner would be entitled to receive statutory damages for each copyrighted work that is found to be infringed, and to obtain either one or multiple awards with respect to infringement of works that are lawfully included in a compilation or a derivative work and any pre-existing works upon which it is based. The court would be able to consider any relevant facts including whether the infringed works are distinct works having independent economic value.

As a result, the maximum amount of statutory damages for infringement of a compilation would increase from a single amount of $30,000 (or $150,000, if willful) to the possibility of multiple awards of that amount. This, if enacted, would be a major change, since existing law limits recovery of statutory damages to one award for a compilation (such as a magazine spread) even if there are multiple images in the compilation.

Want to read more of this article? Go To http://www.photosource.com/researcher/legal155a.html

Kevin Klein
Kevin Klein Photography
kevin@kevinkleinphotography.com
http://kevinkleinphotography.com/

Easy Photo Research

Say good bye to long, harrowing, frustrating searches when you need an EXOTIC, UNIQUE, HISTORICAL, CELEBRITY, SCIENTIFIC, HARD-TO-FIND photo. Now you can use the Internet to quickly locate the source of a hard-to-find image, and save yourself tons of labor and time. And it's FREE. Here's how:

Step 1: Using the popular search engine, Google, type in the words or phrase that describes the picture you need.

Step 2: Then type a space (on the same line), and then the word, photosource. (We have a million and a half text descriptions of available photos.)

Step 3: The source (or sources) of the photo you need will appear on your screen. You can be sure you will be dealing with a qualified photographer. Click on his or her name. When their page comes up, scroll down the page of text until you see your request highlighted in red.

Step 4: Phone, fax, or e-mail the photographer and request a digital sample (or lightbox) to view the image choices. You deal directly with the photographer for payment for the use of the photo. No middleman fees.

For a fast check on how this works, go to Google and type one of the following phrases into the search bar:

To locate a particular town or village: Summerland Key, Florida photosource

To find an exotic weed, or flower: Ageratum houstonianum photosource

An historical event:
Emperor Haile Selassie Lighting Bonfire photosource

To find a geographical location:
New Hampshire covered bridge photosource

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We’re seeing that the Internet can be a powerful tool for quick and easy photo research.

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hoaxes/hoax.asp