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This year, I’m co-chair of the American Bar Association Section of Intellectual Property Law Special Committee on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. My co-chair is Kate Spelman of Cobalt LLP, and we have a great deal planned for the coming year. If you’re an ABA member, I encourage you to join the Section and the committee. Both are filled with thoughtful, engaged lawyers who care about the development of the law.

This year, Kate and I are hoping the committee will study and propose ABA policy on a number of issues, including:

• the two sets of “principles” for user-generated content sites that were recently promulgated (1 2);
• the international effect of notices sent pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 512; and
• the Federal Circuit’s 2004 holding that plaintiffs in anti-circumvention cases brought under 17 U.S.C. 1201 must show that the circumvention they allege has facilitated copyright infringement.

If these issues sound interesting to you, join our committee! If you’re already an IP Section member, you can join in just one click from this page. If you’re an ABA member but not an IP Section member, go here first to join the IP Section. If you’re not an ABA member, start here.

Kate and I are looking forward to a great committee year. I’m writing this on a flight home from the IP Section’s Fall Leadership Meeting in Chicago, where all of the committee chairs met to discuss their committees’ plans. If the DMCA committee doesn’t ring your bell, take a look at these other committees; many of them have some fascinating plans for the year.