Congress looks abroad to curb piracy
The copyright infringers responsible for leaking an incomplete version of the unreleased movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" will likely face harsh penalties thanks to strict U.S. intellectual property laws, but copyright enforcement is still woefully inadequate abroad, representatives of the entertainment industry told members of Congress Monday.
One week after the 20th Century Fox film was found on the Internet, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing in Los Angeles to hear from industry representatives about how to address piracy.
Committee Chair Howard Berman (D-Calif.) said he plans to introduce legislation shortly to bring more attention to intellectual property rights abroad.
The committee plans "to work more closely with other governments to provide the resources, training, legal guidance and tools which they need to alleviate the international piracy that is so devastating to American ingenuity and American jobs," Berman said.
Piracy cost the film industry $6.1 billion in 2005, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, while copyright infringement overall resulted in $18.3 billion in trade losses in 2007, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Copyright infringement also costs the U.S. 750,000 jobs per year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"We just spent billions of dollars on a stimulus package to provide jobs to millions of unemployed Americans, and if we merely focused on curtailing piracy and counterfeiting we would preserve almost a million jobs," Berman said.
While the U.S. government has cracked down on domestic piracy through legislation like the PRO-IP Act, most other countries are far behind, entertainment executives told Berman.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has estimated that Canada has the highest level of online piracy in the world, Zach Horowitz, the president of Universal Music Group, pointed out in his prepared testimony. He asked the committee to question Canada about its legal deficiencies, such as the lack of authority Canadian customs officials have to seize counterfeit goods.
"Ask them to explain their reputation as a nation unfriendly to the policies at the heart of copyright--and the realities of the borderless digital marketplace," he said.
Many countries also need to enact stronger laws against illegal video recording, said Richard Cook, the chairman of Walt Disney Studios. More than 90 percent of the counterfeit versions of movies recently released to DVD can be traced back to illegal video recording, Cook said. As high-definition camcorders become more easily available and more affordable, he said he expects the problem to increase. Federal legislation in the U.S. had reduced illegal video recording domestically, but it remains a problem in countries such as Ukraine, the Philippines, Thailand, and Mexico.
"The increase in illegal activity in these countries has been dramatic, and there is an urgent need for action," Cook said.
He urged the committee to address this problem in future free trade agreements.
Berman noted in a prepared statement that China has chosen to enforce intellectual property rights selectively. NBC, for instance, successfully worked with Chinese authorities to remove virtually all illegal content from the 2008 Olympics. However, NBC Universal has tracked 250 million views of pirated content on approximately a half dozen Chinese video-sharing sites over the last 15 months.
NBC has been able to tamp down the illegal flow of copyrighted content in the United States as Hulu has grown to become the second most popular online video site in the U.S.
"Our experience has proven that technology can play a major role in addressing intellectual property theft if the people involved are willing to make the effort," Rick Cotton, NBC Universal's general counsel, told CNET News.
According to Horowitz's prepared testimony, getting the right people involved may mean more coordination with Internet service providers. A number of European countries are working with ISPs to prohibit the flow of stolen content.
"Their goal is to combat piracy in a way that is fair to rights holders and fair to consumers," Horowitz said. "We, too, can learn from and benefit from the ideas of our international trading partners."
Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail Stephanie. 
The media could everyone a big favor and stop repeating piracy statistics as fact.
"Piracy cost the film industry $6.1 billion in 2005, according to the Motion Picture Association of America, while copyright infringement overall resulted in $18.3 billion in trade losses in 2007, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance. Copyright infringement also costs the U.S. 750,000 jobs per year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "
There has yet to be single shred of evidence to support these numbers. Indeed, Arstechnica and The Economist have made separate attempts to find the source and substantiate the tens of billions of losses claimed by the Business Software Alliance, both were unsuccessful. The Economist going so far as to call the BSA's number grossly inflated and politically motivated. If one looks into the number from the RIAA and MPAA or even the Commerce Department ones yields similar results.
The movie studios are enjoying their third year of record profits and according to the MPAA this year is shaping up to be another as domestic and overseas box office takings are up over last year.
The media could do everyone a favor and stop printing these numbers as though they were fact.
As for foreign copyright, we've seen how they deal with that, they lie on their submission to the 301 watch list. Because of their lie the U.S government puts pressure on the countries to bend to the will of large U.S copyright holders. This is how they got Canada to enact anti-camming legislation. The countries targeted, like Canada, have complained about the lack of objectivity in these lists.
http://cmte.parl.gc.ca/Content/HOC/committee/391/secu/evidence/ev2806944/secuev35-e.htm#T1150
It really is shameful how in the pockets the U.S government is to large corporate interests.
"The large copyright holders will not be statistical until..." should be "The large copyright holders will not be satisfied until...". Forgot to double check the spell checker.
------------------------------
Sorry, please get your facts right. The Philippines' anti piracy chief points out that it was the MPAA representative that blocked apprehension and prosecution of the cases:
"As verifiable documents would confirm there were more than 200 apprehensions of unauthorized camcorders in SM Malls alone by SM Malls management and the MPAA member film distributors were not minded to file the necessary charges against those apprehended leading the release of the said individuals.
And, the MPAA chose to gloss over this verifiable fact to put the OMB and other law enforcement agencies in a bad light even as all steps are being undertaken to address the problem. There was even a case wherein it was the MPAA?s own representative who caused the non-apprehension of a suspected camcorder in SM Mall located in Sta. Mesa, Manila. "
"It is not true that industry representatives are not allowed to inspect authorized replicating plants. If this is based on what Mr. Morrison of the Hill & Associate says, then it should be taken with a grain of salt. We have impressed upon Mr. Morrison that our agency is more than willing to invite them to inspect not only retail establishments but also replicating facilities. The problem with Mr. Morrison is that he imposes the schedule and the manner of inspection, which imposition we strongly feel is not in accord with the realities and conditions in the country. We cannot sacrifice the safety of our personnel on the whim and caprice of one individual. Let it again be of record that we have very good working relationship with the past members of Hill and Associates and with the present other members of the said agency.
It is likewise not true that the OMB has failed to carry out arrests and file criminal cases. Attached are evidence of arrest and criminal charges for your easy reference. In addition, the Board in its recent meeting has already passed a resolution approving the construction of the detention facility in the OMB office, wherein those arrested could be temporarily detained pending the hearing of their criminal cases. "
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/ContentViewer?objectId=09000064808b0d25&disposition=attachment&contentType=msw8
Summarized here:
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2009-03-12&sec=14&aid=87616
Another Comment by a columnist:
http://www.malaya.com.ph/mar09/edducky.htm
"Sometimes it doesn?t pay to be extra nice to foreigners. Take the case of Chairman Edu Manzano of the Optical Media Board (OMB). In doing his job, Edu had been working with the Office of the US Trade Representative and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).
And, frankly, the OMB has done its work so well that the Philippines has stopped being a major source of pirated movies, music and other protected optical media. What we have now (if you care to look closely at the pirated DVD you just bought) are CDs and DVDs produced outside the country mostly coming from China.
The Philippines? improved performance in the fight against piracy and counterfeiting of goods, due to the efforts of Manzano and his OMB crew, removed the country from the Priority category and placed us instead on the Ordinary Watchlist.
So, what is Michael Schlesinger of the IIPA talking about?
In a letter, the OMB chief scored Schlesinger for relying on false information, particularly on the matter of replicating facilities in the country. He told Schlesinger that this would not have occurred if his source "was scrupulous in his gathering of information instead of spending his time in the girlie bars along Padre Burgos, Makati, fancying ladies of Russian descent."
Does anyone have any comment on this? The MPAA supposedly called attention to this as well.
60 dollars for a PS3 game? NOPE! 20 dollars for a CD or DVD? NOPE!
Need I go on? Some of those prices need to be cut at LEAST in half, with the prices for CD's and DVD's being cut to 1/4th what they are there.
Copyright law was perfectly fine as it was first created in England in the 1700's. Copyright laws as they were in the US decades back would be perfectly adequate to prosecute the major infringers. Nowadays however it seems to be far more important to safeguard increased profit and nevermind if you destroy lives in the process and harm cultural exchange the way the draconian horror laws the US has demonstrably done.
Then again... what else is the US exporting these days? Every other industry is already in dire straits so I suppose some form of viable export will be protected to insane levels by the bought-and-paid-for governernment. I just pray countries outside of the US will realize that the benefit of the citizen is what they are entrusted to look after, not the profit margins of the media conglomerates.
You can hate the industry all you want, but I?m always surprised at how many posts to articles like this seem indicate that illegal activity is somehow justified. If you found out someone was taking something you made without paying for it, there?s no way you wouldn?t be upset about it and want something done about it. The penalties may be over the top, but the bottom line is that the chances are getting caught are low and, therefore, the penalty has to be severe. It?s the same reason the penalties for not paying a $.50 highway toll are so high ? if you only had to pay the $.50 if caught, no one would pay the tolls to begin with.
And there are already laws on the books to deal with it. Consider, the PRO IP act passed last year to deal with this same issue. It hasn't even fully taken effect and already the industry is asking for even tougher enforcement based on nothing more than flawed data. There is ACTA treaty currently being negotiated and several of the countries involved are on the 301 lists copyright holder submit to the the U.S Trade Rep who is negotiating ACTA.
"If you think prices are too high, don't purchase the item (and, therefore, don't enjoy it) and let the free market settle prices."
That's the thing, copyright is a statutory monopoly granted to those who create works of original authorship. If the free market set the price on digital downloads (an infinite good) economics tells us the price will trend toward the marginal cost, which is zero for the studios. Bandwidth costs are left to resellers like Apple who pay for it out their cut and the sale of high margin accessories like iPods.
"The more pirating that occurs, the less the industry makes (even though it's not as high as they purport) and the longer they?ll keep items at higher prices."
They are already keeping the prices higher by setting whole sale price for the tracks they give to their various resellers. Don't forget the labels were busted twice for fixing the prices of CDs.
"If you found out someone was taking something you made without paying for it, there?s no way you wouldn?t be upset about it and want something done about it."
Putting aside the difference between physical property and downloads, perhaps but I wouldn't need to ask for new laws every year either. If I inflated the value of my loss the way the recording and movies studios do I'd probably be arrested for fraud.
"The penalties may be over the top, but the bottom line is that the chances are getting caught are low and, therefore, the penalty has to be severe."
The penalties have stayed fairly constant, up to $150,000 per infringement for civil and jail time, asset forfeiture, and fines up to 250,000 per infringement for criminal. What has changed are definitions of the activities that invoke these penalties, means of investigation, and extent of protection copyright provides. Until 2000, DRM had no legal backing, now publish any details about circumvention or that can be used to circumvent is criminal offense. Security researchers have withheld legitimate papers for fear a copyright hold might charge them under the DMCA.
Before Sony got in trouble there was question as to whether it was legal for consumers to remove Sony's rootkit or other DRM installed on their systems.
A free internet is not in the interests of governments, especially the fascists ones like the US corporate state.
The MPAA or RIAA have no right of any kind to force my ISP to censore my net access in anyway.
The MPAA is responcible for destroying more american lives then any terrorist organisation ever did.
with a record breaking 28+ billions in revenue for 2008. Piracy have ZERO effect on the big movie studios. and holluwood does not need any help
The MPAA fight piracy abroad (where they cannot bribe anyone) with 5$ DVD. i am sure that this will work wonders in north america too. But then again it is agains the MPAA's members every single fiber to make a honest buck.
The MPAA and RIAA MUST BE FORCED to fellowing normal procedure. No illegal snooping on someone computer. complaine to the autorities and you will be processed in order of importance, a movie download stand just below jaywalking.
But the most effectve mesure will be to SHUTDOWN the MPAA. this will solve the FAKE piracy problems once and for all.
- by jeromemarkgonzales April 17, 2009 9:58 PM PDT
- I'm a consultant for an airline; my airline friends have informed me of a not-so-obivous aspect to film piracy. It involves 1) screening unscheduled films for unassigned routes, and 2) incorrect logging (digital) of pertinent data such as simpel Flt Nos., Origin, Destination.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(15 Comments)Does anyone have any comment on this? The MPAA supposedly called attention to this as well.