March 23, 2017
The following is a statement from the Directors Guild of America on the introduction of H.R. 1695, the Register of Copyrights Selection and Accountability Act of 2017:
The DGA commends and thanks House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers for their leadership in introducing the bipartisan House bill making the Register of Copyrights an independent appointment. This is an important step toward providing the Register of Copyrights with sufficient autonomy to protect content creators as our copyright laws intend. We also thank all the original co-sponsors as well as Senate Judiciary Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Feinstein, and Senator Leahy for their leadership.
Ensuring that there are federal government policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright and respect creators’ rights are primary concerns of our Guild. We believe empowering the Copyright Office to undertake a key role it has been tasked with by Congress — protecting creative works and those who create them — is essential to that end. The legislation introduced today is a critical step in the right direction.