U.S. House Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing About First Sale Doctrine and Digital Media

A U.S. House of Representatives hearing titled, “First Sale Under Title 17” was held this morning in New York City by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
The hearing was not streamed live.
If/when an archived stream becomes available we will let you know and embed below.
Right now the full text of the prepared statements by witnesses are linked below along with opening remarks by Judiciary Committee Chairman, Bob Goodlatte (R-VA).

Opening Statement

Rep. Bob Goodlatte
From his remarks:

As digital business models have grown and in many cases supplanted analog business models, the role of licensing has become more important. From software offered at lower prices in educational settings to movies offered at lower prices for 24 hour viewing periods, licensing enables a greater range of business models that benefit consumers.
Expectations in the digital context are still developing. For example, consumers seem to have embraced business models that set a lower price for educational uses than commercial uses of software. Consumers are also accustomed to files such as apps, songs, and movies being accessible on any device on a consumer’s home network at one purchase price without having to pay for multiple copies.
Consumer expectations in other areas appear to be more fluid. For example, do most consumers expect to be able to sell their digital files? One of our witnesses this morning provides such a service, but has been involved in litigation over his business model.
Finally, several of our witnesses have ongoing experience in the business to business context where consumer expectations do not necessarily apply. The Subcommittee looks forward to hearing their perspective on first sale as well.

Witnesses Testimony

• Mr. Stephen M. Smith
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

• Mr. John Ossenmacher
  Chief Executive Officer
  ReDigi
   
• Mr. Ed Shems
  edfredned illustration & graphic design

• Mr. Jonathan Band
  Owner’s Rights Initiative

• Mr. Matthew B. Glotzer

• Mr. Greg Cram
  Associate Director of Copyright and Information Policy
  The New York Public Library

• Mr. Sherwin Siy
  Vice President, Legal Affairs
  Public Knowledge

• Professor John Villasenor
  Professor of Electrical Engineering and Public Policy
  UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
  
  
• Mr. Emery Simon
  Counselor
  BSA – The Software Alliance

Statement

NYPL Represents Libraries at House Judiciary Subcommittee Copyright Hearing (via Library Copyright Alliance)
Summary of Greg Cram’s testimony.

Coverage

• Congressional Hearing on Digital Resale (via PW)

Links via: Judiciary.house.gov

Filed under: Libraries, News, Public Libraries