2013 PACA Year in Review

The weather is colder, the holidays are upon us, and, as the New Year approaches, it’s time to reflect on another successful year for PACA!We’re still glowing from this year’s PACA Conference, which, by all reviews, was one of the best we’ve had in recent years. Moving out of a hotel, teaming up with Visual Connections, and changing the program format proved to be a winning combination! The sessions were extremely well attended, and the topics were timely, informative and sometimes controversial. If you missed this year’s meeting, be sure to mark your calendar for next October in New York.This year, we changed our name to "PACA Digital Media Licensing Association" to better represent our membership and our goals. We faced another year of economic challenges for our industry with renewed energy and vision that resulted in a revamped, more intuitive website.PACA’s officers, employees, and counsel reached out to work even closer with our fellow associations on the important issues facing our industry. We collaborated on several amicus briefs and joined forces to address the US Copyright Office on Orphan Works, Mass Digitization, and Remedies for Small Copyright Claims. A list of all our legal work is included with this email. One of our greatest achievements in 2013 was the completion of the Cengage Contract. The PACA Editorial Relations Committee worked for almost a year with the publisher to create an outline more in line with the way that publishing is evolving. The final agreement reflects a balanced approach with transparency of reporting and opportunities to revisit the terms in the future. We are now conversing with other publishers interested in collaboration.More PACA accolades came from the Visual Steam Buyer’s Survey where PacaSearch tied for 5th as the “go-to” website picked by the thousands of voting art buyers, art directors, creative directors, and marketing professionals.None of this work and success means anything without the support of our membership. Your commitment and continued involvement in PACA helps us to continue to be an important voice for the content licensing industry.A LIST OF LEGAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:Participation in Amicus Briefs for:

• Oracle/Google case with respect to Fair Use issue
• HathiTrust Fair Use
• Viacom vs. YouTube
• Cariou vs. Prince

Copyright Office:

• Attended 2-day hearings at Columbia University on Small Claims Court led by the Copyright Office
• Responded to the Copyright's Office's NOI on Orphan Works and Mass Digitization
• Responded to the Copyright Offices Request for Comments on Remedies for Small Copyright Claims

Rights of Publicity:

• Worked with Maryland on their Right of Publicity bill
• Worked with ASMP in opposition to NY's S. 5196 Right of Publicity
• Joined NPPA's letter in opposition to Bill SB 465 SD1, the "Steven Tyler Act"
• Working with MA legislatures on right of publicity bill that provides a express carve out for image licensing (supported by GI) 

Internet:

• Joined ASMP's letter regarding Terms of Service To Instagram
• Joined NPPA's letter to Yahoo
• Joined CEPIC's EU antitrust complaint against Google Images
• Sent letter to Microsoft regarding alarming language being used by Microsoft to promote its latest Office product now available in the United States, which encourages and promotes the outright theft of our members’ works