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Sinking Copyright Piracy to Protect & Create Jobs

By IBLS Editor

In Southern California this morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a field hearing regarding global copyright piracy.  Today's gathering is especially timely as aficionados prepare for the summer movie season, and as Congress and the administration consider ways to combat this form of job-destroying theft. 
 
Just last week, we saw the increasingly bold efforts of such digital thieves when "X-Men Origins: Wolverine? was illegally posted online - an entire month before its scheduled theater debut.
 
If left unchecked, crimes like this ultimately affect workers across the copyright economic chain, including the writers, actors, electricians, caterers and construction personnel on set.  By bypassing legal distribution channels, this activity also hurts those working at the intended venue of lawful distribution ? the movie theater ? which provides jobs at the ticket booth and the concession stand, among others.
 
Especially in these difficult economic times, we must protect and promote the efforts of an industry that relies on keeping the creative juices of our writers and artists flowing.  In addition to creating jobs, their efforts help make life more enjoyable and provide some of our most valuable resources for cultural exchanges around the world.
 
We commend House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman for bringing his colleagues together in a community whose livelihood is so closely linked to this industry.  As they gather information today about this pervasive problem, there are a number of steps they and their colleagues can take to tackle this issue ? both in the U.S. and abroad.  These include:
 
·         Fully funding and implementing the PRO-IP Act (PL 110-403) to protect and create jobs in IP-intensive industries.
·         Supporting the introduction, passage and enactment of a Customs and Border Protection Reauthorization bill to better address trafficking in illicit goods.
·         Supporting legislative improvements to the USTR"s Special 301 process to help deal with other countries that fail to live up to their international IP obligations.
·         Concluding negotiations for a substantive and enforceable Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with major trading partners.
·         Engaging Beijing to improve China?s IP legal and regulatory regimes through the implementation of new copyright, patent and trademark laws.
·         Pursuing reforms on data exclusivity, incremental innovation and optical discs legislation in India.
·         Working towards improved copyright enforcement in Russia, as well as the successful implementation of IP reform through Part IV of its Civil Code.

By Rob Calia

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).