Arlington, Va. – The
Consumer
Electronics Association
(CEA) and the Home Recording Rights Coalition
(HRRC) filed comments with the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement
Coordinator (IPEC) Thursday in response to the Coordinator’s request for public
input into its draft strategic plan.
The statement urged the IPEC to ensure a balance between
intellectual property rights and fair use.
In order to promote a balanced approach, CEA and HRRC urged that
fair use and other public interest exceptions be included in international
agreements that impact fair-use rights.
“These concerns are particularly poignant…when considering
secondary liability for infringement,” CEA and HRRC stated, noting that over
the past 30 years the introduction of virtually every technology capable of
consumer recording has been met with an actual or threatened secondary
liability lawsuit.
The comments also point to the recent incident in which an
Italian court imposed criminal liability on Google employees based on consumer
uploaded content as exemplifying the need for third-party liability limitations
in international IP agreements.
