Differing Approaches Urged To Combat IP Theft
A coalition of groups that represent those who produce intellectual property Wednesday urged the Obama administration to bolster federal efforts to crack down on copyright infringement domestically and abroad, noting that particular emphasis should be placed on finding ways to curb IP theft via the Internet.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the Directors Guild of America, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the Motion Picture Association of America, the National Music Publishers' Association, the Recording Industry Association of America and the Screen Actors Guild made the comments in response to White House IP enforcement coordinator Victoria Espinel's call last month for input on the strategy her office is crafting seeking ways to bolster IP protection. Comments on the plan were due Wednesday at 5 p.m.
While IP theft "takes many forms, the growth of online theft of copyrighted works presents the greatest and most urgent challenge," the groups wrote in their filing. "The Internet in general, and broadband services in particular, offer many new and exciting opportunities to consumers; prime among them are new ways to create, distribute, and enjoy copyrighted works."
Among the measures the groups urged the Obama administration to pursue include greater efforts to encourage legitimate businesses, such as Internet service providers, social networking sites, search engines and others, to help crack down on those who use their services to engage in copyright infringement. "Encouraging these intermediaries to work with content owners on a voluntary basis to reduce infringements, and assuring these intermediaries that such cooperation will not be second-guessed, should be top priories that call for the personal intervention of senior government officials if necessary," the groups said.
In addition, the groups urged an examination of federal and state laws to ensure they are not impeding efforts by ISPs and others to help combat IP theft and called on the federal government to hold an annual summit on ways to tackle IP theft.
Meanwhile, several public interest groups also submitted a filing Wednesday that said the plan should seek more balanced ways to curb IP infringement that also respect the rights of users.
Such an approach might include consideration of "whether facilitating legal access to content through mechanical licensing at reasonable rates would prove a better way to discourage infringement and benefit the industry as a whole than the blunter solutions often recommended by the entertainment industry," according to the filing from the American Association of Law Libraries, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Medical Library Association, Public Knowledge, the Special Libraries Association, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus