Copyright Stakeholders Testify They're Still Figuring Out Rights Issues
Concerns over digital piracy took precedence at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on delivery models in the digital age. Committee members were told Tuesday that online piracy issues are fluid and stakeholders are continuing to figure out more efficient ways to ensure the protections of rights holders. The hearing also addressed the effectiveness of voluntary measures for consumers, such as the Copyright Alert System (CAS).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
"Even though we're aware of pirate websites,” said Rep. Tom Marino, R-Pa., they're pirate websites “at the top” of search engine results. Marino asked what should be done to have legitimate sites at the front of search results, rather than illegal sites. Chief Technology Officer John McCoskey of MPAA described pirate websites as a “dynamic problem” and said the “most important” thing to do is to have “a dialogue in the ecosystem” with all the legitimate parties to better mitigate piracy. Google is working on “modifying algorithms” to address piracy issues, he testified. Pirating issues are a “cat and mouse game,” which “started on the first day of the search engine,” said Chief Strategy Officer Sebastian Holst of PreEmptive Solutions.
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., asked all witnesses whether “voluntary sanctions” are useful in combating piracy. David Sohn, general counsel of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Copyright and Technology, said voluntary measures are a “very productive way” to curb piracy and cited CAS as an example of effective measure that doesn’t resort to the courts. Voluntary means should be “cautious” in how they might discipline consumers, so as to avoid “overreaching,” he said. McCoskey endorsed CAS as a “good mechanism” to fight Tor programs, later in the hearing.
When Conyers asked whether the current legal infrastructure adequately addresses apps with pirated material, Holst said “we don’t need more legislation.” Rather, “we need to find the bad guys more quickly,” said Holst, whose company fights IP theft.
Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C., asked witnesses how they intend to improve on legitimate alternatives to piracy. McCoskey said it’s not only about improving distribution, but “getting consumers to find [legal] content.” Sohn said an alternative should be offering a great product at a fair price. Rep. Chu, D-Calif., cited the International Intellectual Property Alliance’s news release that said the U.S. copyright industry contributed $1 trillion to the economy in 2012. (See separate report below in this issue.) She asked why piracy persists with so many legal channels. McCoskey said piracy is a “constant issue,” one that is “evolving.”
In prepared testimony, Amazon executive Paul Misener sought a “centralized information source” for music rights holders. He lamented “exorbitant statutory damage awards” that could “chill the development of new products and services” for consumers. The Internet must “remain a non-discriminatory, open platform,” to improve the delivery of digital content, Misener said.
McCoskey stressed the importance of the film industry and the kinds of technological advances that are changing its business model. “Nearly 42 million homes in the United States now have any number of Internet-connected media devices, including game consoles, smart TVs, and online set-top boxes,” he said in prepared testimony. “More than 90 legitimate online services are already enabling those homes to download or stream movies and TV shows, offering a service for every type of content consumer out there.”
In prepared testimony, Sohn outlined “consumer expectations” for digital content and “what this means for copyright reform legislation.” Consumers want “the ability to get what they want, when they want it,” and members of Congress should take care “that the legal regime encourages continued innovation in the marketplace,” he said.