The Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2021 (PRO Act) (H.R. 842) passed the House of Representatives Tuesday night by a vote of 225-206, with mostly Democratic support, paving the way for the Senate to consider the bill (S. 420), where it is expected to face strong opposition from the Republican minority despite having …
New York (February 25, 2021): The Authors Guild Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild, today announced it has formed a partnership with the newly established Carol Shields Prize for Fiction to help administer the Prize’s charitable efforts in the United States. Named for American-born and Canadian-based author Carol Shields, who was …
The results from the Authors Guild’s third and most recent survey of authors (members and non-members) show that incomes in the writing profession have continued to decline during the pandemic with a higher percentage of writers reporting some loss of income. Of the 669 total respondents, a staggering 71.4% reported that their income (from any …
On February 9, the Authors Guild sent a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris, along with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) as the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees (respectively), advising the new administration of the urgent need for it to support authors and the literary arts, …
New York (February 12, 2021): The Authors Guild, the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit advocacy organization for professional writers and journalists, secured observer status for the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Observer status at WIPO is granted by the Assemblies of the Member States of …
The Authors Guild Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild, announces the hire of Lynn Boulger as its Executive Director. A respected nonprofit professional with more than 20 years of senior management experience, Boulger is a seasoned philanthropy executive, who has strategically advanced organizational goals at academic institutions, health care and small nonprofits, and raised hundreds of …
As you know, in November 2020, Bertelsmann announced its plans to acquire Simon & Schuster, which would take the number of Big Five publishers down to four. In response, the Authors Guild, Open Markets Institute, Horror Writers Association, National Writers Union, Novelists Inc., Romance Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and Western Writers of America have …
Since October 2020, when a technical glitch revealed irregularities in accounting for ACX authors at Audible, the Authors Guild, the Society of Authors, and the Alliance of Independent Authors, with the support of a group of independently published authors, have been engaged in a collaborative campaign to improve authors' terms and conditions on the platform. …
In Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. ComicMix, a much-watched copyright fair use case, a federal appellate court last month overturned a fair use decision by the lower court, finding that ComicMix’s book was an infringement of Dr. Seuss’s copyright.The lower court had concluded that ComicMix’s Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go!, which mimicked the artwork from …
As you probably know by now, the long-fought-for CASE Act was enacted in December, marking one of the most significant developments in copyright law since the DMCA in 1998. The CASE Act creates a dedicated forum within the Copyright Office for the resolution of disputes involving small copyright claims for a relatively small fee, as …
On December 22, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) released a discussion draft of a bill intended to reform the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (better known as the “DMCA”). December 27, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 was signed into law; this law includes the Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement (or “CASE”) Act, along with the …
Last night, Congress passed a second $900 billion COVID-19 relief package, extending badly needed benefits to millions of Americans facing unemployment and loss of income due to pandemic-related business closures. The package passed as a part of the $1.4 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. In addition to providing a second direct stimulus payment, the …
Draft Legislation Is a Promising Step in DMCA Reform The Authors Guild is pleased to announce that today Senator Tillis (R-N.C.), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Proper Subcommittee, unveiled the draft legislation “Digital Copyright Act of 2021.” The draft bill comes on the heels of a year-long series of hearings and discussions with …
Congress Passes CASE Act to Create Small Claims Tribunal in the Copyright OfficeAuthors Guild Played Key Advocacy Role in Securing Passage of the New Law NEW YORK (December 22, 2020)—Authors and creators just got a major tool in their arsenal to protect their works after the U.S. Congress enacted the Copyright Alternative in Small Claims …
