The new administration brings new promises. President Trump has his eyes on draining the swamp, taking on government bureaucracy, and going after the federal workforce. These YUGE! promises will undoubtedly fuel a series of late night tweets and retweets galore.
But if President Trump wants to make some actual bipartisan progress on modernizing government, he should start by tuning in to a bipartisan effort already underway: bringing the Copyright Office into the modern era.
For those not steeped in the regulatory weeds, the Copyright Office is responsible for administering our national copyright system. As part of this, it examines and registers about a half million creative works a year—from journals and books to movies and music.
How important are these industries? According to one trade-association estimate, the core copyright industries now contribute more than $1.2 trillion to the country’s GDP. They also employ 5.5 million people, a number which has been growing for years. To cite one example, Twentieth Century Fox’s movie Independence Day: Resurgence spent 158 days on location in New Mexico, which led to $44 million in local economic activity and the hiring of 5,750 local workers.
This economic activity is great news—but it’s not guaranteed. Technology and globalization are completely changing how and where we do business. As noted in a recent Third Way report, Ready for the New Economy, “gone are the days when businesses had no alternative but to locate and expand in the United States. In this new anywhere economy, businesses, their employees, and their customers can often be anywhere in the world.” Other countries have recognized this trend and are modernizing their tax codes, infrastructure and incentives to lure businesses—whether to land a movie shoot or a manufacturing facility.
To keep industries in the United States and help maintain their ability to invest and innovate, we need to make sure that our government operations are working efficiently. A key piece of that is making sure the Copyright Office is modernized.
Right now, the Copyright Office lives within the Library of Congress where it competes with other Library priorities for resources and staff. And despite repeated calls for modernization, including recently issuing a forward-looking IT modernization plan, nothing has been done.
Indeed, in 2015 the Government Accountability Office—the federal government’s watchdog—identified numerous technical and organizational challenges within the Library and the Copyright Office, from antiquated registration and record systems to the integrity of the files stored on government servers. Computer systems freeze “multiple times per day,” some documents can only be accessed by paper (and not digitally), and the registration process can be difficult for some creators.
Recognizing these issues, there was a bipartisan effort last Congress to empower the Copyright Office to address its challenges and continue to fulfill its important policy functions. Reps. Tom Marino (R-PA) and Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced the Copyright Office for the Digital Economy (CODE) Act, which would modernize the office by moving it out of the Library of Congress and making the Register of Copyrights a presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed position. And while there has been debate over the move, there is widespread agreement that a technological upgrade is critical.
Building on Representative Marino and Chu’s work, leaders of the Judiciary Committees in both the House and Senate recently released policy proposals that include many important aspects of the CODE Act to “help ensure the Copyright Office keeps pace in the digital age.” They are seeking comments from interested parties all month.
Modernizing the Copyright Office might not spur a tsunami of retweets or dinner-party toasts. But this plan is precisely the kind of good government reform that we need to embrace. And the fact that there is bipartisan support behind it—well, I’ll retweet to that.
