Publications: Jaci McDole

The court rightly refused to encourage or support the Internet Archive's blatant theft and violations of copyright protections in Hachette v. Internet Archive.

The world’s leading creative countries still have a long way to go before they can say they’ve significantly reduced digital piracy, but many are finally taking steps in the right direction toward this goal. Australia has adopted many of the best policies to better target copyright infringement, but there are a few missing that policymakers should consider.

Creators, industries, the economy, businesses large and small, and more than 5 million U.S. workers rely on copyright. Meanwhile, the patronage system is archaic and irrelevant in the digital age. Policymakers must ignore these unfounded, outdated, and repetitious attacks on creators’ rights, focusing instead on updating copyright laws rather than abolishing them.

There is nothing meritorious about an expanded TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics IP. Just like the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines, the expanded waiver proposal is unnecessary, inappropriate, and harmful. The United States and its allies must not allow it to continue.

As more content creators migrate to the metaverse—creating immersive, interactive, 3D virtual environments and placing virtual products within them—IP owners may face challenges in acquiring and enforcing trade dress and design patents for purely digital goods. To address this challenge, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) should issue guidance clarifying the rights associated with trade dress and design patents, especially essential terms like “functionality” and “secondary meaning,” to ensure digital goods receive IP protections just like their physical counterparts.

Digital piracy is a significant threat to industries and economies. Congress must act to protect American creators, and enacting the SMART Copyright Act is a smart next step.

With the development of the metaverse and other Web3 technologies creating more challenges for protecting rightsholders from online theft, Congress should update the DMCA to foster greater use of innovative technologies to protect copyright online.

Internet Archive is not a noble, Robin Hood organization being bullied by the hierarchy for helping the poor and needy, despite the story EFF and its anti-IP allies continue to spin. Rather, this is a simple case of an organization stealing from creators to justify its “information wants to be free ideology,” then trying to redirect blame, hoping to garner sympathy for its wrongdoing rather than simply compensating rightsholders.

Congress should ignore pressure from progressive activists who want to use drug price controls to move to a government-led drug discovery and production system and instead focus on more pragmatic reforms.