Yesterday, EFF filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, pushing back against a district court decision that expanded state law copyrights in pre-1972 sound recordings. This may sound familiar: we recently filed a similar brief in the Second Circuit. In both cases, a company called Flo & Eddie has convinced district courts that state copyright law restricts public performances of pre-1972 sound recordings, even though such a restriction has never before been recognized.

The copyright reform train is gathering steam, but whose hand is at the controls? Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on "The Rise of Innovative Business Models: Content Delivery Methods In The Digital Age." We expect witnesses from the major movie and TV studios to expand on their recent theme: that major studios are doing plenty of innovation already, so Congress doesn't need to make copyright law more innovation-friendly. They will say studios' limited forays into digital distribution, like Hulu, HBO GO, Crackle, and the UltraViolet digital rights management (DRM) system are innovation aplenty. But that’s disingenuous, as they've continued to litigate with scorched-earth tactics against others