Washington — Following 20 hearings on copyright reform, the House Judiciary Committee could see substantive copyright reform legislation introduced before the end of the year.  In advance of the renewed copyright reform conversation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which has testified on the subject, released its latest whitepaper Tuesday “Copyright Reform For a Digital Economy” along with a webinar by author and CCIA Vice President Matt Schruers.

Since copyright law was written more than 100 years ago, the goal has been to encourage creativity to benefit the overall public good. It’s important as copyright is modernized to ensure that reforms continue to benefit not just rightsholders, but the overall public good.

“Technological innovations have changed the U.S. economy by rapidly reducing the cost of content creation, distribution, and discovery.  In an information economy, copyright reform is no longer a conversation about a few specific industries; it’s a conversation about how we regulate most of the nation’s industry — including many of our most successful export sectors. As policymakers consider reform measures, they will need to accommodate new technology and provide business certainty within the constraints of a complex existing copyright system and international obligations,” said Schruers.