Bill to Make U.S. Copyright Office Independent Agency Introduced in U.S. House

HR. 4241 “Copyright Office for the Digital Economy Act” was recently introduced in the United States House of Representatives.
The U.S. Copyright Office is currently part of the Library of Congress.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Tom Mario (R-PA) and then sent to the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) and Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) are listed as co-sponsors.
Reps. Chu and Marino posted this media release after the bill was introduced.
Read the bill here.
Track HR4241 via GovTrack.us.
Coverage and Background

Bill Would Make Copyright Office a Standalone Agency (via FedScoop)

A bipartisan pair of lawmakers introduced a bill in the House Friday that would remove the Copyright Office from the Library of Congress and make it an independent agency — a move meant, in part, to correct the deficiencies in the office’s IT.
The bill, H.R. 4241, sponsored by Reps. Tom Marino, R-Pa., and Judy Chu, D-Calif., would continue to house the Copyright Office within the legislative branch and includes technical provisions meant to help it move out of the Library. The bill also would require the head of the office to periodically conduct studies of the agency’s IT to make sure it is “meeting the needs of the copyright community, including internal and external.” The lawmakers had been shopping a draft version of the legislation since June.

Read the Complete Article
See Also: Copyright Register: IT outage shows why agency must modernize (via FedScoop)
See Also: Copyright Office Lays Out Technology Upgrade Plan, Pushes for Tech and Data Workers (via FedTech)
See Also: U.S Copyright Office Releases 2016-2020 Strategic Plan (December 1, 2015)

Filed under: Data Files, Libraries, News