Lamar Smith pats RIAA on the back
With House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Billy Tauzin on the verge of
ousting Jack Valenti as boss of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), another Hollywood favourite in a position of power is patting the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) on the back for suing people.
The RIAA is, of course, the music industry equivalent of the MPAA and just as the latter is owned by Hollywood’s Big Seven music studios, the former is the child of the Big Five record labels.
"The problem of P2P theft is so serious that the Recording Industry Association of America has filed hundreds of lawsuits to protect the rights of musicians, songwriters, composers and many others working in the music industry," Lamar Smith told the American Intellectual Property Law Association, recently.
Smith is chairman of the US Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property which oversees copyright law.
Significantly, he’s also one of the people behind the
Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2003 which, if it gets by the US congress, will have the FBI working for the entertainment industry against file-sharers, among others.
"The legal action taken by the recording industry is necessary to protect intellectual property rights from being violated," he said the day after the RIAA filed another 80 lawsuits against alleged copyright infringers, bringing the total to 341.
"Peer-to-peer technology permits the widespread and massive distribution of digital music, movies, and software files, which often results in copyright infringement."
Earlier in his talk, Smith said in "looking for ways to protect both intellectual property and free exchange in the marketplace," Congress has to consider various issues including patent rights, piracy, the broadcast flag, and a standard of "fair use" that protects consumer rights.
"The rise of the Internet and new digital media has changed the way the public enjoys entertainment products," Smith observed, going on that an advantage of digital formats is they offer high quality reproduction of audio and video, but, "A major disadvantage is that digital formats make the works very susceptible to piracy since every digital copy offers a perfect reproduction.
"The problem is only made worse by peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. The first hearing of the IP Subcommittee this year addressed piracy on university campuses, which is ‘ground zero’ for P2P piracy."
Interestingly, the RIAA has identified US university campuses as perfect direct sales oulets for its members’ product under the guise of protecting their owners’ interests against file sharing.
