Wexler Wants Unified Voice For IP Rights
Congressional Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention Caucus Co-Chair Robert Wexler warned an international crowd of copyright executives Wednesday that the intellectual property policy push outside of Washington and Brussels has not gained enough steam. Most average citizens would be unable to describe what IP piracy is and others don't see it as a threat, the Florida Democrat said during a luncheon keynote at the World Copyright Summit. He cautioned that momentum for international IP infringers is building and offered as proof the fact that Sweden's Pirate Party won a seat in the European Parliament early Sunday. The group, buoyed by young people and first-time voters, became known earlier this year for its support of the controversial file-sharing Web site Pirate Bay.
Government and private sector efforts to make IP theft taboo have fallen short, he said. "Those of us who understand the importance of IP law fail to do the job of educating others toward our point of view," Wexler said, urging creators, governments and industry to spread a cohesive message. "We have a great story to tell but we must tell it better." Traditional advocacy is not enough because it gets lost in a sea of detractors who "don't necessarily play by the rules," Wexler said. Groups like Sweden's Pirate Party, which wants more free Internet content, woo supporters with attractive prose that is not based in fact, he said. "We end up with the difficult task of explaining the finer points of copyright law to a public that has little or no interest in an explanation," Wexler said.
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