Two telecommunications giants have been political contributors to many of the House Judiciary Committee members who will be reviewing the companies' proposed merger Thursday.
Continue readingPandora gets heard but many lawmakers change the channel
To the delight of the recording industry, a congressional hearing about a bill that would decrease the royalties that Pandora pays to record labels and artists turned into a larger discussion about how Congress regulates the music business.
The hearing, on the Judiciary Committee’s intellectual property subcommittee, was about the Internet Radio Freedom Act, a bill sponsored by panel member Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would subject Internet radio services to the same rate setting standard of cable and satellite radio.
MORE: Check out the archive of Sunlight Live's coverage of the hearing.
In a press release issued after ...
Continue readingBattle brews between recording industry and Internet music providers
The fiscal cliff might be getting all the headlines, but another battle is brewing in Congress, pitting the recording industry, a traditional source of Washington power, against Internet firms using an upstart technology.
But in a departure from last year's struggle over the Stop Online Piracy Act, better known as SOPA, which favored entrenched media firms like Walt Disney and Time Warner while drawing opposition from technology firms like Google and Reddit, this time the bill at the center of the controversy favors the upstarts. The Internet Radio Fairness Act would lower the royalty fees that sites like Pandora pay out to recording companies and artists.
Continue readingSOPA revolvers: Sixteen former Judiciary staffers lobby on online copyright issues
As the House Judiciary Committee readies to consider a controversial bill that supporters say will crack down on websites pirating content, some interest groups may have a leg up on influencing the legislators.
That’s because 16 lobbyists, representing various companies and organizations favoring, opposing or watching the bill, used to work on the House panel. The committee plans to markup the measure tomorrow.
The bill, called the Stop Online Piracy Act, is hotly contested, dividing Hollywood, which wants tougher laws to protect copyrighted material, and Silicon Valley, which contends that SOPA would introduce new, uncertain liabilities for web companies ...
Continue readingHouse Judiciary Committee Updates Web Site
The new look web site for the House Judiciary Committee is looking pretty darn good. The site features a nicer... View Article
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