[A2k] PicScout Chosen to Testify before the House Subcommittee on IP at a Hearing on Orphan Works Legislation

[Manon Ress]

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PicScout Chosen to Testify before the House Subcommittee on
Intellectual Property at a Hearing on Orphan Works Legislation
Thursday March 27, 1:39 pm ET

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Digital content monitoring industry
leader PicScout was called to testify recently before the House of
Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual
Property to provide information on how the company=92s image recognition
software can be used to identify the original owner of copyrighted
files that exist without attribution.

Following demonstration of its Content Clearance System in December at
the U.S. Copyright Office, PicScout was the only technology company
asked to return and talk more about its solution for the problem at
the hearing, raising the possibility that PicScout=92s software might be
selected for use by the U.S. Government.

PicScout Marketing and Sales Director, Maya Gura, explained before the
Subcommittee on Courts how the company=92s Content Clearance System can
help users to identify copyright owners of so-called =93Orphan Works=94 =96
copyrighted files whose owners are seemingly impossible to identify or
locate.

In 2005, the U.S. Copyright Office began to study issues related to
Orphan Works. Concerns have been raised by various parties that the
uncertainty surrounding ownership of copyrights might discourage both
creators and users from incorporating these files in new artistic
works, or from making them available to the public.

=93I find PicScout=92s testimony before the Subcommittee both interesting
and enlightening. I believe technology can provide a critical part of
the solution in identifying the owners and original creators of Orphan
Works,=94 said the Chairman of the Subcommittee, Howard L. Berman.

=93The US Copyright Office is very impressed by the image recognition
and tracking capabilities of PicScout,=94 said Marybeth Peters, Register
of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office. =93Moreover, we are impressed by
their leadership in forging new business models for copyright owners
and new search tools for copyright users.=94

=93We are well aware of the problem of Orphan Works in the copyright
community and pleased to be a part of the solution available to the
good-faith user,=94 said Gura. =93I am proud that PicScout was selected
out of many other technology companies, but even more, I am proud to
support the artists and encourage the great creation of art.=94

Additional speakers included Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights,
U.S. Copyright Office, Allan Robert Adler, Vice President of Legal and
Government Affairs, Association of American Publishers, Corinne P.
Kevorkian, President and General Manager, Schumacher, Karen C. Coe,
Associate Legal Counsel, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Victor S.
Perlman, General Counsel and Managing Director, American Society of
Media Photographers.

A record of the proceedings is available at www.copyrightoffice.gov.














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Manon Anne Ress
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Il vaut mieux remuer une question, sans la d=E9cider, que la d=E9cider,
sans la remuer.
Pens=E9es, essais, maximes et correspondance de J. Joubert  p.249
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=3DGallica&O=3DNUMM-88671
Translation: It is better to debate a question without settling it
than to settle a question without debating it