By: Autumn Burgin
Recently in January 2022, the Copyright Office released its new 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for the upcoming years. The Office recognizes that in today’s world, copyright has become more relevant to the public, including those who may not have the access to the expertise or resources as professionals do. To adapt, the Copyright Office is aiming to “expand its outreach and education programs to grow awareness of copyright and all its benefits”.[1] Their new strategic plan lays out how they plan to accomplish this over the next four years. The Copyright Office expresses that the key focus of the new strategy is to ensure that copyright is accessible to all, welcome diversity and enrich cultural landscape.[2] Furthermore the Office has four goals they want achieve: copyright for all, continuous development, impartial expertise, and enhanced use of data.[3] The plan goes into further depth on just how they propose to meet these goals.
The first goal surrounds allowing copyright access to all. The intention is to make the copyright system as understandable and accessible to as much of the public as possible. This includes individuals, small entities, and historically underserved communities.[4] Currently, the Copyright Office conducts outreach activities including the creation of circulars, FAQ’s, videos and answering questions from the public.[5] Moving forward the Copyright Office will try to make the law and its services more understandable. To do this they will do further research on how their system is used and who uses it. Their new Enterprise Copyright System (ECS) will help this goal by making services easier to use. The ECS integrates and updates the Office’s services including, but not limited to, a redesigned and easier to use registration system, an electronic recordation process system, and new tools to streamline the Office’s review of licensing agreements.[6] The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) will also provide a forum for resolving small claims to make justice more accessible.[7]
The second goal, “continuous development”, is currently served by the Office’s new modernization initiative and the ECS. They are currently trying to make all services digitized, interconnected, searchable and easy to navigate. Progressing towards the future the Copyright Office intends to continue to develop their modernization process while identifying opportunities presented by emerging technologies to expand services.[8]
The third goal involves “impartial expertise”.[9] The Copyright Office currently prides itself on being an impartial expertise in copyright law, policy, and practice. The Office serves as the principal advisor to Congress on national and international copyright issues as well as it works on a variety of copyright matters with courts and executive agencies.[10] The Copyright Office will further this impartial expertise by remaining up-to-date and dedicated to the development of copyright law through rulemakings and studies. They will also try to continue their duties internationally by participating policy discussions and the provision of education.[11]
The fourth goal deals with the “enhanced use of data”.[12] Currently, while offering services the Copyright Office also collects various types of copyright-related information. They also collect other data related to operations performance and web metrics which is used to inform policies and measure performance.[13] The Office is looking to improve the development and use of data while making it more accessible to internal and external audiences. This will allow them to determine how to shape policies, set budgets and feeds, as well as provide resources to the public more effectively.[14]
While this new strategic plan is in its very early stages, how the Copyright Office will follow through on their promises is something worth taking note of. Some are already scrutinizing this new plan, suggesting that the copyright office could take other steps to achieve the same outcome such as making registering copyrights optional instead of mandatory.[15] Either way, it seems the Copyright Office has some high expectations for itself, and the hopeful outcome is something worth supporting.
By: Autumn Burgin
[1] United States Copyright Office Strategic Plan 2022-2026: Fostering Creativity & Enriching Culture, u.s. copy. office, https://copyright.gov/reports/strategic-plan/USCO-strategic2022-2026.pdf (last visited Jan. 28, 2022).
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Strategic Plan 2022-2026, supra note 1.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Strategic Plan 2022-2026, supra note 1.
[12]Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Tiffany Hu, Copyright Office Aims to Make IP System That Works “For All”, law 360, (Jan. 20, 2022, 9:20 PM), https://www.law360.com/articles/1457337.