In all the madness that made up the last month of 2020, a number of copyright bills and proposals popped up—some even became law before most people had any chance to review them. So now that the dust has settled a little and we have some better idea what the landscape is going to look like, it is time to…

Virtual Opportunities To Honor Black History Month. With limited in-person celebrations this year due to the pandemic, a number of museums and organizations are offering virtual opportunities to honor Black History Month. Mashable’s Chase DiBenedetto lists out some of the best online exhibits available, such as: Portraits of African Americans at the National Portrait Gallery, Slavery Narratives from the Museum of…

The CASE Act Still Faces Challenges. The controversial Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act), which passed as part of a year-end Covid relief bill with almost no public debate, was signed into law in late December, but still has a long road ahead. Re:Create provided some clarification to the misinformation being shared about the bill and how the…

While you may not have heard, the controversial Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act) was passed and signed into law just days before Christmas as Hollywood’s version of coal in the stocking for millions of vulnerable Americans. If you are wondering how you missed such an important change to our nation’s copyright laws, go easy on yourself. It…

SPARC is the newest member of Re:Create, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit founded in 2014 by a diverse coalition of library groups, trade associations, nonprofits, and think tanks advocating for balanced copyright. Joshua Lamel, Executive Director of Re:Create, said he admires SPARC’s work with Open Access and Open Educational Resources for students. The policy agendas of the organizations have some overlap and he says he’s…

The retail sales revenue for the technology industry will reach $461 billion in the U.S. in 2021 – a 4.3% increase year-over-year – according to a new report by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)®. As millions of Americans remain home and rely on tech to stay entertained, connected and healthy during the pandemic, streaming services, 5G connectivity and digital health…

Here at EFF, we take particular notice of the way that intellectual property law leads to expression being removed from the Internet. We document the worst examples in our Takedown Hall of Shame. Some, we use to explain more complex ideas. And in other cases, we offer our help. In terms of takedowns, 2020 prefaced the year to come with a…

Have you ever seen an eighth-grade production of Romeo and Juliet? You may be interested to know that classroom productions would not be possible to put on in a cost-effective way if the works of Shakespeare were not in the public domain. The public domain is a collection of plays, books, movies, music, images, data sets, and other materials that are…

2020’s Top Moments of Online Creativity While the COVID-19 pandemic forced much of daily life to take place online in 2020, the shift has resulted in many bright spots of creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. Below are a few of our favorite highlights from the year — all made possible by platforms that rely on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)….

2020, A Breakout Year For The Creative Economy. Axios profiled the creative economy, highlighting how 2020 has been a standout year for creators. “Nearly every major app geared towards content creators has seen significant percentage increases in downloads this year,” the report finds. Throughout the pandemic, Twitch doubled the number of streamers on its platform, while TikTok’s number of downloads…