MPAA Urges Copyright Office Modernization, Industry Efforts Against Piracy

MPAA drew attention to industry-led efforts to address online piracy issues. As House Judiciary Committee members visit California on their copyright "listening tour," MPAA said Monday it isn't encouraging addressing piracy via legislation. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., House IP Subcommittee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and nine other House Judiciary members are expected to attend one or both of the copyright roundtables planned in California as part of the committee’s Copyright Act review. The two sessions -- one after our deadline Monday at Santa Clara University and another Tuesday at the University of California, Los Angeles -- are likely to draw attention from the wide range of copyright stakeholders present in California (see 1511060052). MPAA Chief-Global Content Protection Dean Marks is set to speak during the UCLA roundtable and House Judiciary members will meet MPAA executives during a private dinner Tuesday. “We are currently focusing our attention on forging cross-industry, voluntary initiatives to ensure a safe and innovative digital environment, rather than seeking a legislative rewrite of copyright policy,” MPAA said in a blog post. Industry stakeholders “have made significant progress working with payment processors” like PayPal to “cut off the flow of subscription and advertising money to pirate sites -- one of the most effective ways of tackling online piracy,” MPAA said. The online advertising industry has joined with MPAA members and others to form the Trustworthy Accountability Group’s Brand Integrity Program Against Piracy to help advertisers “screen out websites that present unacceptably high risks of engaging in copyright or trademark infringement,” MPAA said. Other industry-led efforts include formation of the Copyright Alert System and publicizing the need for attention on “the use of domain names to engage in or facilitate unlawful conduct, and the role that search services play as a gateway by which many users discover and access sites involved in illegal activity,” MPAA said. The group said it supports efforts to “modernize” the Copyright Office and detach it from the Library of Congress. “Copyright is too important to be a secondary issue within the Library’s broader portfolio,” MPAA said. “The time has come to make the Register a nominated and confirmed position as the head of a stand-alone Copyright Office within the legislative branch.”