Harry Potter Alliance Of Fan Fiction Activists Joins Re:Create. The Harry Potter Alliance, an activist group that leverages themes from Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and other popular media to encourage social change has joined the Re:Create coalition. As first reported in Politico’s Morning Tech today, “Along with the group’s Fan Works Are Fair Use campaign, Harry Potter Alliance Campaign Manager Katie Bowers said they are working to ‘[make] sure copyright laws protect and preserve fair use so that artists and consumers have outlets for creative expression.’”

New CCIA White Paper On Copyright Reform Released. On August 25, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) hosted a webinar in conjunction with the release of their white paper, “Copyright Reform for a Digital Economy.” The paper recommends Congress focus on ensuring greater transparency with regard to who owns what copyrights, protect fair use, preserve safe harbors for Internet companies, and reduce the power of statutory damages for copyright infringement. Broadcasting & Cable covered the white paper and CCIA’s Capitol Hill briefing on copyright reform and what protections should be preserved for fair use of copyrighted content.

Copyright Can’t Be Used To Silence Free Speech. Jon Healey with the Los Angeles Times editorial board provides readers with an update on a court case involving the city of Inglewood suing local resident Joseph Teixeira for posting segments of official videos to criticize the mayor. In the August 21 story, “Federal judge tosses Inglewood’s novel effort to muzzle a gadfly,” Healey highlights part of the the federal judge’s ruling on copyright and free speech: “The Court can scarcely conceive of works that are more appropriately protected by the fair use doctrine…than the Teixeira Videos…He is engaged in core First Amendment speech commenting on political affairs and matters of public concern…” Healey also points to the editorial board’s position on the case in June – “There’s something fundamentally outrageous,” the board declared, “about using tax dollars to sue a taxpayer over the use of a public record that taxpayers paid to create.”

A New Look At Google v. Hood Case And An Open Internet. Re:Create member New America’s Open Technology Institute takes up the ongoing Google v. Hood case in Mississippi in their Weekly Wonk blog “Google v. Hood: Coming Soon to an Appeals Court Near You.” The case has been attracting a lot of attention and according to the blog, “Beyond its melodrama, Google v. Hood also embodies a deeper ideological clash that persist between those who believe that Internet content must now be technologically and legally controlled and those who argue that it remain as open as possible in the service of free expression.”

Mark Your Calendar For ALA Webinar On Fair Use With EFF. On Thursday, September 3rd at 2pm ET, the American Library Association’s CopyTalk webinar series will feature Corynne McSherry, Legal Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The webinar “Court Cases Shaping the Fair Use Landscape” will address the leading legal cases affecting Fair Use and our ability to access, archive, and foster our common culture.

A Pivotal Time For Modernization, Copyright Office Continues Role In Promoting Culture. With increased attention on the need to reform the U.S. Copyright Office, a Washington Post style blog by David Montgomery helps showcase the important role the office plays in helping to promote culture. In “Some things can only be said in a tragic Mexican corrido — and here’s your chance” on August 24, Montgomery covers the first-ever Library of Congress Mexican corrido song-writing workshop, which will be hosted by the American Folklife Center on September 15. The American Folklife Center was founded in 1976 to “preserve and present American folklife.” According to Montgomery, “a specialist from the U.S. Copyright Office will help copyright the group effort.”

South By Southwest Panels – Cast Your Vote For Re:Create Today. If you haven’t already voted for our Copyright & Creators: 2026 panel, time is running out! Our panel will address the tough questions about copyright law and more importantly, how copyright will look ten years from now. How will the law impact creators and innovators? Will our laws keep pace with the times or fall behind? Vote for our panel if you think these pressing questions need to be addressed!