Big tech companies use copyright to crowd out start-ups

Abby, 1-19-22, Medium, “Copyright Law & Startup Innovation: Policies That Matter and Where They May be Headed,” https://engineadvocacyfoundation.medium.com/copyright-law-startup-innovation-policies-that-matter-and-where-they-may-be-headed-dea034904e25, accessed 7-9-24, CT]

Fair use and interoperability: Some big companies would like to expand the universe of what software is protected by copyright and which development activities constitute infringement. If that happened, it would prevent startups from using fundamental software development tools, expose them to new litigation risks, and make it harder to launch and compete. But after a decade of litigation, the Supreme Court recently confirmed that developers can use software interfaces — known as application programming interfaces (APIs) — without infringing copyright. The Court held that reimplementing APIs, which creates interoperability and compatibility between computer programs, is a fair use under copyright law.

Intermediary liability and the ability to host user-generated content: Scores of startups engage with user content — helping artists connect with fans, providing e-commerce platforms, hosting podcasts, or offering basic Internet infrastructure. These companies, and the creators and small businesses that depend on the Internet, interact with the copyright system every day. And they rely on balanced laws that allow the startups to resolve allegations of infringement without scrutinizing every post, upload, and comment for potential copyright violations. Some countries have started to replace those laws, instead moving to complex and expensive regimes that would force Internet companies to purchase expensive and imperfect upload filters, remove more non-infringing content, and negotiate licenses with big organizations that own a lot of copyrights. That is all do-able for big Internet platforms, but it will put startups at a substantial disadvantage. Yet similar ideas are being floated in the U.S. — where policymakers have proposed changes to copyright law (and trademark law).