Epiphany: Rep. John Conyers Realizes Mid-Hearing That His Copyright Position Contradicts His Stand Against Overcriminalization

from the when-reality-sets-in dept

It's hard to imagine looking at the absurdly excessive copyright penalties on the books and thinking, "Hey, maybe these should be a bit higher." But Congress has shown itself to be exceedingly imaginative when it comes to cranking up copyright, so perhaps it is no surprise that in yesterday's hearing on those penalties—covering statutory damages and criminal sanctions—a number of witnesses and Representatives alike seemed to think that those remedies are insufficient.

More surprising, though, was an unexpected moment of clarity from Michigan's Rep. John Conyers, a staple of the Judiciary Committee's reform hearing process and a reliable supporter of ratcheting up copyright enforcement capabilities. Conyers broke the first rule of copyright exceptionalism club by actually talking about the fact that this discussion would seem pretty unreasonable—even by Congressional standards—in areas outside of copyright.

Specifically, Conyers referred to the very real problem of overcriminalization, which absolutely afflicts copyright policy. This, after all, is the area of law that has made us an "Infringement Nation," routinely racking up millions of dollars in hypothetical damages throughout the course of an average day. Conyers generally pushes back against this overcriminalization, but here he is arguing for misdemeanors to be made into felonies—what gives?

Conyers: Mr. Assistant Attorney General, what else can we do besides addressing the felony streaming issue? It seems like... uh... once we get that going... uh... {long pause}... Well, it seems to me like there's an underprosecution. Normally, I... {pause} come to the committee complaining about overcriminalization. {Looks around} And now I find myself in the awkward position of saying... uh... let's make a felony of somebody's misdemeanors. Can you give me some comfort in some way? {awkward smirk}

If you can't see that, here's the key clip, though it helps to watch the video:

David Bitkower, the witness from the Department of Justice, basically says that from the DOJ's perspective there is no overcriminalization problem, which is unsurprising. Then Nancy Wolff, a witness from the law firm of Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard, adds that the ridiculously high damages helps plaintiffs force defendants to settle. Finally, Public Knowledge's Sherwin Siy notes that Conyers's question was spot on: our current excessive penalties do encourage certain plaintiffs to pursue non-meritorious claims, and that's something to be concerned about.

You can see on Conyers' face that he was looking for some resolution to his cognitive dissonance, but he couldn't find it. Copyright exceptionalism is simply inconsistent with fact-based policy—so when it comes time to reconcile the two, you're going to have a bad time.

Let's hope this moment was a lawmaker beginning to see the light. As EFF lays out in our brand new copyright whitepaper, "Collateral Damages", excessive and unpredictable penalties can chill free speech and stifle innovation. On such an important issue, it's encouraging to see lawmakers breaking from the standard script.

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Filed Under: copyright, copyright remedies, david bitkower, doj, felony, house judiciary committee, john conyers, nancy wolff, overcriminalization, streaming