President's Message January 2017

    Dear DMLA Members:It’s hard to believe that the first month of 2017 is almost over. Reflecting on the past year we’d like to thank you for your support of our trade association. Working on your behalf, we strive to deliver the best legal advocacy, educational information and networking opportunities in the digital media industry.In addition to the name change from PACA to DMLA to better reflect the constituents of the association, we are proud of the many accomplishments that DMLA has achieved over the last few years. Some of the significant 2016 accomplishments are highlighted below.With a new board taking over in May 2016, we have set new objectives for the next two years to further evolve our organization, broaden our membership base and cement DMLA’s relevance to the digital media licensing industry. We look forward to sharing news on our initiatives in the coming months as we build up to our 22^nd Annual DMLA Conference October 22-24 back in Manhattan again at the historic New Yorker Hotel.We truly appreciate your support and hope you recognize, as we do, the valuable role your membership plays in allowing us to continue our efforts on behalf of the industry. We are asking you to show your continued commitment to DMLA by renewing your membership for 2017. Invoices were mailed out in December and many of you have already made your payments, which is very much appreciated. We have made it easy to pay your dues; our Monthly payment plan has been a popular option for many members and is available again this year.  Dues are payable by January 31, 2017, so please make arrangements to get them paid by then. Finally, from the DMLA Board and all our Committee members, we wish you all the best for 2017!Geoff Cannon                                                                                                                                                    DMLA President DMLA 2016 ACCOMPLISHMENTSMembership

•  Welcomed 10 new members into the Association

DMLASearch

• Total relaunch of PACAsearch as DMLAsearch including a new website that includes photos from contributing agencies on homepage DMLAsearch.com

Connectivity

•  Consistent communication with members this year through the use of our blog, twitter and Facebook page
• Our 21^st Annual Conference: Another outstanding conference was held in Jersey City in October. The sessions were reviewed as some of the best ever covering subjects from Doing Business in China to Advances in Visual Recognition. You can read reviews of all the sessions here, In a post-conference survey we received Very Good or Excellent marks from over 83% of our attendees.
• Participation in Visual Connections in Chicago and New York to connect with buyers

Education

• Webinar series continued in 2016 with “Sensitive Issues Web. You can find the audio recording here
• Worked with DMLA member Adobe to produce and record legal videos explaining the basics of releases, fair use, issues involving outside art, graffiti and social media use of images. You will find them on our website Note - It’s a members-only section of the site so you will need your username and password to gain access.

Advocacy

•  Maintained our presence in Washington, DC to advocate for DMLA
• Meetings with the Copyright Office on the 108 exception, dealing with libraries and archives in July and then again in September with ASMP on suggestions for improving the current proposed Copyright Small Claims bill
• Attended the U.S. Copyright Office’s public roundtable in New York, New York on May 2-3, 2016 in connection with the Office’s study on section 512 (involving immunity for ISP’s).
• Attended and spoke on a panel on a day-long symposium sponsored by the US Copyright Office and the Center for Intellectual Property at George Mason Law School entitled AUTHORS, ATTRIBUTION, and INTEGRITY: Examining Moral Rights in the United States on April 18, 2016.
• Submitted an amicus brief to the Second Circuit on behalf of the DMLA supporting Fox Network before the Second Circuit in New York in  the appeal of the decision  in Fox Network, LLC v. TVEyes, Inc., explaining that there is a robust licensing market for images and clips and that expanding fair use for an unauthorized distributor of video clips in this case could have a significant impact on the content licensing industry
• Submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the DMLA supporting T3 Media before the Ninth Circuit in California in the appeal of the decision in Maloney v T3 Media, Inc. supporting T3 Media and the decision that held the act of offering editorial content for licensing or sale does not violate the subject’s right of publicity under state law and that the Copyright Act preempts state law where it interferes with the copyright holder’s right to exercise her exclusive rights. We explained the importance of this decision to the content licensing industry as a whole and the ability of the press and others to have access to licensable content.
• Weekly phone meetings with the other visual arts associations on copyright small claims and other issues to help get important issues moved along by working as a cohesive group
• Wrote Blogs on cases involving take down notices under the DMCA, removal of copyright management information and copyright damages
• Worked successfully on Right of Publicity Act in Minnesota.