***UPDATE: The public meeting has been rescheduled to December 12, 2013 and there have been further clarifications issued regarding public comment deadlines. Read more in the Federal Register Notice update.***
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce; United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Department of Commerce; National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Request for public comments and notice of public meeting.
SUMMARY: Consistent with the Department of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy released on July 31, 2013, the Task Force seeks public comment from all interested stakeholders on the following copyright policy issues critical to economic growth, job creation, and cultural development: the legal framework for the creation of remixes; the relevance and scope of the first sale doctrine in the digital environment; the appropriate calibration of statutory damages in the contexts of individual file sharers and of secondary liability for large-scale infringement; whether and how the government can facilitate the further development of a robust online licensing environment; and establishing a multistakeholder dialogue on improving the operation of the notice and takedown system for removing infringing content from the Internet under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The Task Force will also hold an initial public meeting on October 30, 2013, to discuss these topics.
DATES: Comments are due on or before November 13, 2013. Any comments received before October 15, 2013 will be considered in the discussions in the public meeting. The public meeting will be held on October 30, 2013, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time. Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m.
ADDRESSES: The Task Force intends to hold the public meeting in the Amphitheatre of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20004. All major entrances to the building are accessible to people with disabilities. Confirmation of the venue for the public meeting will be available at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting on the Internet Policy Task Force Web site, http://www.ntia.doc.gov/internetpolicytaskforce and the USPTO’s Web site, http://www.uspto.gov. Interested parties are encouraged to file comments electronically by e-mail to: CopyrightComments2013@uspto.gov. Comments submitted by e-mail should be machine-searchable and should not be copy-protected. Written comments also may be submitted by mail to Office of Policy and External Affairs, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Mail Stop External Affairs, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450. Responders should include the name of the person or organization filing the comment, as well as a page number, on each page of their submissions. Paper submissions should also include a CD or DVD containing the submission in Word, WordPerfect, or pdf format. CDs or DVDs should be labeled with the name and organizational affiliation of the filer, and the name of the word processing program used to create the document. All comments received are a part of the public record and will be made available to the public at http:www.ntia.doc.gov/category/internet-policy-task-force without change. All personally identifiable information (for example, name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. The Task Force will accept anonymous comments (enter “N/A” in the required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding the meeting, contact Hollis Robinson or Ben Golant, Office of Policy and External Affairs, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Madison Building, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; telephone (571) 272-9300; e-mail hollis.robinson@uspto.gov or benjamin.golant@uspto.gov. For further information regarding the public comments, contact Garrett Levin or Ben Golant, Office of Policy and External Affairs, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Madison Building, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, VA 22314; telephone (571) 272-9300; e-mail garrett.levin@uspto.gov or benjamin.golant@uspto.gov. Please direct all media inquiries to the Office of the Chief Communications Officer, USPTO, at (571) 272-8400.