My First Sale Doctrine Testimony

Lisa Shaftel, Graphic Artists Guild's advocacy chair, and me
at the courthouse in New York

On June 2, 2014, I appeared in front of members of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives in a hearing with the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet on behalf of The Graphic Artists Guild, The Copyright Alliance and all visual artists concerning changes to the First Sale Doctrine.

Changes to the doctrine will negatively affect those like me who create, as well as publishers, music and movie distributors and many others. And the ripples from the changes will make their way to consumers and the market at first in positive ways (Yay- cheaper stuff!) and then longer term stifling of creativity and variety of products.

Read my previous post on this topic to get an overview on some of the negative effects.

I was joined by those representing the publishing world, libraries, public knowledge, software companies and a company whose business model hinges on changing the doctrine:

Witnesses

• Mr. Stephen M. Smith President and Chief Executive Officer John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Smith spoke about the importance of market segmentation in the publishing world. That is, the ability to vary the price of Wiley's books based on the location of the market. In the U.S., for instance, we can (generally) afford to pay a higher price, however in less affluent regions the same books are priced lower so they are more attainable. See this article about Kirtsaeng v Wiley.)

• Mr. John Ossenmacher Chief Executive Officer ReDigi (A main player in the secondary use market)

• Mr. Ed Shems edfredned illustration & graphic design

• Mr. Jonathan Band Owner’s Rights Initiative

• Mr. Matthew B. Glotzer Media Consultant

• Mr. Greg Cram Associate Director of Copyright and Information Policy The New York Public Library

• Mr. Sherwin Siy Vice President, Legal Affairs Public Knowledge

• Professor John Villasenor Professor of Electrical Engineering and Public Policy UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

• Mr. Emery Simon Counselor BSA – The Software Alliance

Read witness testimony or watch the video HERE

Read Chris Meadow's follow-up article on Teleread HERE

Read the Graphic Artists Guild's article HERE

Tomorrow, June 25, 2014, I'll be participating in a roundtable at Harvard organized by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) concerning the proposed changes to the first sale doctrine. 

More about tomorrow's roundtable HERE

Edfredned goes to Washington. Er... New York

I've been invited to testify in front of members of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives in a hearing with the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet on behalf of The Graphic Artists Guild, The Copyright Alliance and all visual artists concerning changes to the First Sale Doctrine.

The hearing is taking place in New York this coming Monday, June 2, 2014.

Simply put, the First Sale Doctrine holds that if you purchase copyrighted material, you have the right to resell that item. For instance, once you're done reading your Tom Clancy novel, you can sell it on Craigslist or give it to a friend to read.

The changes to the doctrine will allow the same for digital books and software which are currently 'licensed' to you rather than 'sold'. Instead, we would be able to resell or pass along an ebook or software provided we delete our copy off our hard drive. However, one would also now possess the right to use the illustrations, photos, graphs from the ebook as one wishes. To make that happen, the doctrine stipulates that all agreements we creative professionals make with our clients big and small are full rights licensing agreements. No more limited rights. 

A few reasons why this is not good for creative professionals as well as our clients: 

• No more opportunities to resell exclusive artwork
• Inability to renegotiate agreements if the use will be greater than originally anticipated (consider: You create an illustration for a poster for a school and charge accordingly. The school decides to use the image for a magazine advertisement and billboards and they do not have to pay you for the additional use)
• Prices will have to go up to cover the additional rights we must pass along. Small clients will not be able to afford the work and large clients don't have the extra budgets
• Anyone who legitimately (under the doctrine) possesses a copy of my artwork could alter the work. It would still look like my work but, for example, with color choices I would never have made. Or the work could be used to promote or convey a message with which I do not agree. Both cases may have a negative impact on my reputation.

The Graphic Artists Guild, the Copyright Alliance and I will be submitting our testimony tomorrow morning and then I'll be appearing on Monday in front of a panel to offer my input (I have five minutes to speak) and to answer any questions the members might have.