The Graphic Artists Guild welcomes the first policy proposal resulting from the Judicary Committee’s review of U.S. copyright law, released by House Judiciary Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte (left) and Ranking Member John Conyers (right). The proposal hits upon many concerns raised by visual artists associations: the autonomy of the Copyright Office, modernization of the Office’s IT infrastructure, and copyright small claims reform.

The proposal addresses four major areas: the autonomy of the Copyright office and nomination process of the Register of Copyrights; creation of ad-hoc committees to advise the office on technological advances; IT modernization, including the “searchable, digital database of historical and current copyright ownership information”; and the creation of a copyright small claims system to handle low-value copyright infringement cases.