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61 J. Copyright Soc'y U.S.A. 561 (2013-2014)
From Paralysis to Progress: The (Useful) Art of Copyright Pragmatism

handle is hein.journals/jocoso61 and id is 619 raw text is: From Paralysis to Progress FROM PARALYSIS TO PROGRESS: THE (USEFUL) ART OF COPYRIGHT PRAGMATISM by SHIRA PERLMUTrER* I. INTRODUCTION Let me start with a disclaimer: I am speaking today as an individual observer and participant in the past twenty years of copyright policy dis- cussions, not as a public official. My remarks are the outgrowth of my checkered past, having had the opportunity to view the debates from a wide variety of perspectives, including the private and public sectors, in the United States and internationally. Copyright is on everyone's lips today. Conferences are organized; pa- pers are published; hearings are held; blogs are posted; bills are intro- duced. Copyright issues make the headlines and provide material for cocktail party chatter. The viability of copyright in the Internet age and glitches in online licensing are hot topics. But all of this activity, and all of this noise, in recent years has not led to the adoption of new laws. Why the disconnect between the level of interest and the pace of legislative change? The fact is that copyright policy-making, in both the international and domestic spheres, has become increasingly difficult. We see periods of near paralysis, as debates rage but little gets done. Of course one could take the perspective that no action is good - that gridlock, as in the larger political arena, can be preferable to fool- hardy change. In the copyright field, however, the law has always been bound to technology in its definitions and application - and as technol- ogy evolves, so must policy. This does not mean that copyright rights should forever expand, or that change is a goal in itself; rather, the balance struck as to the scope of rights and exceptions, and their practical applica- tion, needs to adapt to the delivery mechanisms of the current day. In fact, as everyone is aware, there have been growing calls for copyright revision, culminating last year in the Register of Copyrights' vision of the *Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs, United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the USPTO or the US government. This article is a written version of the Forty-Third Brace Lecture delivered on November 4, 2013 at Fordham Law School in New York. 561

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