[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 215 (Thursday, November 5, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70654-70655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-24577]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

[Docket No. 2020-9]


Sovereign Immunity Study: Announcement of Public Roundtables

AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice of public roundtables.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a study to evaluate 
the degree to which copyright owners are experiencing infringement by 
state entities without adequate remedies under state law, as well as 
the extent to which such infringements appear to be based on 
intentional or reckless conduct. To aid its analysis, the Office is 
announcing public roundtables to provide the opportunity for members of 
the public to address the following topics: Evidence of actual or 
threatened copyright infringement by states; state policies and 
practices for minimizing copyright infringement and addressing 
infringement claims; and alternative remedies under state law for 
copyright infringement.

DATES: The roundtables will be held on Friday, December 11, 2020. 
Attendees will be able to join the event online starting at 
approximately 8:30 a.m., and the event will run until approximately 
5:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The Office will conduct the roundtables remotely using the 
Zoom videoconferencing platform. Requests to participate as a panelist 
in a roundtable session should be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time 
on November 16, 2020 using the form available at https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/hearing-request.html. 
Any person who is unable to send a request via the website should 
contact the Office using the contact information below to make an 
alternative arrangement for submission of a request to participate. 
Additional information will be made available at https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/roundtable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin R. Amer, Deputy General

[[Page 70655]]

Counsel, [email protected]; Mark T. Gray, Attorney-Advisor, 
[email protected]; or Jalyce E. Mangum, Attorney-Advisor, 
[email protected]. They can be reached by telephone at 202-707-3000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 3, 2020, the U.S. Copyright Office 
issued a notice of inquiry (``NOI'') commencing a policy study on state 
sovereign immunity from copyright infringement suits.\1\ Congress has 
requested that the Office ``research this issue to determine whether 
there is sufficient basis for federal legislation abrogating State 
sovereign immunity when States infringe copyrights.'' \2\ To assist 
Congress in making that assessment, the Office solicited public comment 
on several issues concerning the degree to which copyright owners face 
infringement from state actors today, whether such infringement is 
based on intentional or reckless conduct, and what remedies, if any, 
are available to copyright owners under state law. Initial comments 
were due on September 2, 2020, and reply comments and empirical studies 
were due on October 22, 2020. Information about the study, including 
the NOI and public comments, may be accessed on the Copyright Office 
website at https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/.
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    \1\ 85 FR 34252 (June 3, 2020).
    \2\ Letter from Sens. Thom Tillis & Patrick Leahy to Maria 
Strong, Acting Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office at 1 
(Apr. 28, 2020), https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/letter.pdf.
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    The Office is now announcing that it will hold roundtable 
discussions on December 11, 2020, to allow interested members of the 
public to discuss and provide additional information on the topics of 
the study. The roundtables will be held virtually over Zoom to allow 
maximum participation and avoid the need for participants to travel. 
Each roundtable session will cover a topic relevant to the study, as 
discussed below. Depending on the level of interest, the Office may 
hold multiple sessions on the same topic to accommodate a greater 
number of participants and provide additional time for discussion.
    Members of the public who seek to participate in a roundtable 
should complete and submit the form available on the Office website at 
https://www.copyright.gov/policy/state-sovereign-immunity/hearing-request.html no later than November 16, 2020. Shortly thereafter, the 
Office will notify participants of their selection and panel 
assignments. In order to accommodate the expected level of interest, 
the Office plans to assign no more than one representative per 
organization to each session.
    The Office will post a tentative agenda for the roundtables on its 
website on or about December 4, 2020. The Office also will provide 
sign-up information for members of the public who wish to observe, but 
not participate in, one or more of the roundtable sessions. The 
sessions will be video recorded and transcribed, and copies of the 
recording and transcript will be made available on the Copyright Office 
website

Roundtable Subjects of Inquiry

    The roundtables will consist of sessions on the following topics: 
(1) Evidence of actual or threatened copyright infringement by states; 
(2) state policies and practices for minimizing copyright infringement 
and addressing infringement claims; and (3) alternative remedies under 
state law for copyright infringement.

Evidence of Actual or Threatened Copyright Infringement by States

    Congress has asked the Office to ``study the extent to which 
copyright owners are experiencing infringements by state entities 
without adequate remedies under state law.'' \3\ To this end, the 
Office seeks evidence concerning actual or threatened copyright 
infringement by states, including both specific instances of infringing 
conduct and empirical information relating to broader trends. Relevant 
issues include, but are not limited to, the prevalence and outcomes of 
infringement suits brought against state actors; whether the frequency 
of infringement by states has changed over time and whether it is 
likely to increase or decrease in the future; and the extent to which 
state immunity affects sales and licensing practices in transactions 
involving state entities. In addition, in light of the Supreme Court's 
articulation of the standard of intent required to establish 
unconstitutional infringement,\4\ the Office is particularly interested 
in information that would allow it to assess the extent to which state 
infringements have involved intentional or reckless conduct.
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    \3\ Id.
    \4\ See Allen v. Cooper, 140 S. Ct. 994, 1004 (2020).
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State Policies and Practices for Minimizing Copyright Infringement and 
Addressing Infringement Claims

    The Office is interested in whether or to what extent states have 
adopted policies to address complaints of copyright infringement and/or 
to decrease the likelihood of inadvertent infringement by state 
employees and institutions. The Office is particularly interested in 
testimony by state officials about their own practices, but the Office 
also invites participation by organizations or individuals who have 
navigated the relevant processes or otherwise have experience with this 
topic.

Alternative Remedies Under State Law for Copyright Infringement

    The Supreme Court's decision in Allen v. Cooper requires Congress 
to consider whether states ``fail[] to offer an adequate remedy for an 
infringement.'' \5\ The Office accordingly is interested in hearing 
from members of the public about what remedies states provide for 
infringement of copyright, as well as whether those remedies are 
adequate for enforcement purposes. The Office would be particularly 
interested in hearing from those who have asserted alternative state-
law remedies in court and how such cases were resolved. Discussion of 
these issues should include consideration of the relationship of any 
state-law cause of action to the preemption provisions under section 
301 of the Copyright Act.\6\
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    \5\ Id.
    \6\ 17 U.S.C. 301.

    Dated: November 2, 2020.
Regan A. Smith,
General Counsel andAssociate Register of Copyrights.

[FR Doc. 2020-24577 Filed 11-4-20; 8:45 am]
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