Obama Helps Hollywood: Aggressive IP Policy Aids Entertainment Industry Joe Satran The Huffington Post 09/07/2012
On Aug. 28, the Republican Party announced it had included language about Internet freedom and intellectual property protection in its 2012 platform, becoming the first major party to do so. Former Sen. Chris Dodd, now head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), swiftly came out in support. A week later, the Democratic Party became the second party to do so when it revealed it had included even more strident language about the value of IP in the digital age. Dodd endorsed the Democratic platform as well. You'd never think that IP protection was a radioactive political issue barely eight months ago. Back in January 2012, President Barack Obama seemed to oppose harsh penalties for digital piracy of copyrighted movies and music. He came out against two hotly debated anti-piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), helping to secure their defeat in the Senate and House. And it just so happens that January 2012 was the only month in which most Americans were paying attention to IP issues, so many people got a false impression of his administration's views on the matter. During the other 43 months, the Obama administration has worked hard to support IP protections online. It has done so much to increase enforcement of copyright laws that some call it the most Hollywood-friendly administration in U.S. history. To understand how that happened, you have to go back to July 2008, when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, introduced the Pro-IP Act in the Senate. The legislation would increase criminal penalties for intellectual property infringement and dedicate more federal resources to the fight against piracy and counterfeiting. President George W. Bush's Department of Justice opposed a key measure in the bill: the creation of an intellectual property enforcement coordinator within the executive branch. But the Pro-IP Act passed both houses of Congress resoundingly in September -- with the coordinator clause intact. One year later, President Obama appointed IP lawyer Victoria Espinel as the first-ever intellectual property enforcement coordinator. Espinel, who had earlier served as the chief U.S. trade official for IP issues, got to work quickly. Just days after she took office in December 2009, she convened a large meeting of government officials and representatives from companies in IP-intensive industries, especially the entertainment business, at the White House. ... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/obama-hollywood_n_1859780.html _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
