[Ecommerce] New (?) alliance wants "stronger" copyright law

[Manon Ress]

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Backers of stronger copyright laws form lobby group

Copyright Alliance draws applause from Hollywood Democrat Howard
Berman, who heads a key House panel that writes intellectual property
laws.
By Anne Broache
Staff Writer, CNET News.com

http://news.com.com/Backers+of+stronger+copyright+laws+form+lobby
+group/2100-1028_3-6184604.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

Published: May 17, 2007, 9:16 AM PDT

WASHINGTON--Some of the staunchest advocates for stricter copyright
laws have formed a new alliance designed to pressure Congress into
preserving stronger intellectual property rights.

The Copyright Alliance--which launched, complete with electric-green
and white T-shirts displaying its logo at a morning Capitol Hill
event here--consists of 29 national organizations and companies that
purport to represent 11 million workers in copyright-related
industries. Those members include the Recording Industry Association
of America, the Association of American Publishers, the Motion
Picture Association of America, Microsoft, Viacom and Walt Disney.

The group's members aren't expected to agree on all the nuances of
policy debates, said Patrick Ross, the alliance's executive director.

But according to a press release, they're all committed to broad
goals like promoting the "vital role" of copyright in the U.S.
economy and job market, encouraging inclusion of copyright protection
requirements in international agreements, supporting civil and
criminal penalties for piracy, and advocating against "diminishment"
of copyright law.

As copyrighted works become ever more widely distributed through
digital means, those who own the rights "still want to get paid,"
Ross said.

The group's formation drew applause from key politicians who preside
over copyright law changes, including U.S. House of Representatives
Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Howard
Berman (D-Calif.), who heads a key House panel that influences
copyright laws.

In a brief appearance at Thursday's event, Berman, who represents
suburban Los Angeles, credited the late Jack Valenti, a former MPAA
head, with encouraging him to get involved in intellectual property
lawmaking after he was first elected to Congress in 1982. Berman
spoke of the need to combat "the constant assaults on copyright law"
and called the group's formation "a tremendous idea."

"Sometimes the image our opponents like to draw of 'the industry'
just isn't a realistic portrait of what's going on," he told about 70
people gathered for the event, after noting that "some dear friends"
were in attendance.

He admitted that his timeline for copyright law action was unclear,
thanks in part to a focus on contentious patent law revisions. But he
suggested that his priorities will revolve around updating the way
royalties are paid to artists, including taking another look at
traditional radio's long-standing exemption from a certain class of
payments, something its counterparts in the Internet-based and
satellite sphere do not enjoy.

At the event, the alliance sought to draw attention to the importance
of copyright-dependent industries by showing a short video depicting
photographers, animators and other artists deemed "the face of
copyright." Grammy-winning Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier, guitarist
and Booker T and the MGs member Steve Cropper, famed folk singer Tom
Paxton and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tim O'Brien also showed
up to tout the importance of copyright to their livelihoods.
Now on News.com
Throwing cold water on energy hogs Microsoft's Mundie looks beyond
Gates Will labels sing along with DRM-free music? Extra: Modded Xbox
360s banned from Xbox Live Video: Band jams on hacked 'Guitar Hero'
controllers

The Copyright Alliance's message, however, is not without
competition. October marked the launch of a Washington-based
alliance, called the Digital Freedom Campaign, whose members include
the Consumer Electronics Association, advocacy group Public
Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

That group argues that big labels and studios are threatening to
squelch new gadgets and consumer freedom by chipping away at the fair
use rights written into copyright law. They support proposals like
the Fair Use Act, sponsored by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and three of
his House colleagues, which would amend the controversial Digital
Millennium Copyright Act to allow consumers the legal right to pick
digital locks on copyrighted works for certain home or educational
purposes.

RIAA President Cary Sherman, for his part, has denounced the group's
stance as an "extremist" interpretation of the law designed to
frighten consumers and policymakers.

************************************************************************
***
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,

1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Ext 16 Fax: +1.202.332.2673

1 Route des  Morillons, CP 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 791 6727

24 Highbury Crescent, London, N5 1RX, UK
Tel: +44(0)207 226 6663 ex 252 Fax: +44(0)207 354 0607