p2pnet - rss feed: Whitehouse Top Copyright Cop: phase II
p2pnet news | MPAA News:- Corporate America wants to bring in bigger guns in its battle against counterfeit drugs.
Oh, and against “pirated” songs and DVDs, of course.
So, “a coalition of legislators and companies is pushing for the appointment of a White House-based copyright czar,” says BusinessWeek.
In the “Corporate America” list, place the Hollywood and Big 4 record labels right at the top and they are, in order of appearance >>>
- Big 4: Vivendi Universal (France), Sony BMG (Japan and Germany), EMI (Britain), and Warner Music, American but run by a group headed up by a Canadian.
- Hollywood: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, Universal City Studios and Warner Bros Entertainment.
Separately and together, and fronted by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) on the one hand and the misnamed RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) on the other, the two entertainment industry groups are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in a carefully orchestrated international campaign to convince the world at large corporate business requirements are essential to life as we understand it.
“Congress should establish an Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, say some drugmakers, music companies, and filmmakers represented by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA),” says the story.
“The federal official would work from the White House and coordinate efforts of some nine departments, including the Justice Dept., State Dept., and Patent & Trademark Office, in combating the theft of intellectual property.”
US Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative
But wait! This seems familiar.
“In what must be one of their greatest triumphs yet, entertainment industry interests have greased a copyright Top Cop with his/her own copyright police into the White House —- just before the present incumbent is replaced by a new president who might not be so amenable to corporate movie and music industry blandishments as George W’s administration,” p2pnet posted last month, going on >>>
The official title will be US Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative.
“We are transitioning from a nation whose economy was driven by what we created with our hands to one driven by what we create with our minds,” Billboard has RIAA boss Mitch Bainwol declaring with a straight face.
“This creative and economic genius deserves to reach its full potential, and this bill is an important step toward achieving that goal.”
The, “push to crown a copyright czar underscores companies’ mounting frustration with intellectual-property (IP) theft in its various forms, including fake pharmaceuticals, imported counterfeit goods, copyright infringement, and illegal music and movie downloads,” says Business Week.
‘Combating IP theft’
“Legislators [with the cartels immediately behind them] say existing efforts to thwart IP theft fall short, says Business Week, quoting well-known Hollywood fan senator Patrick Leahy as saying:
“The lack of coordination between the federal agencies seems to be one of the biggest hurdles we face.”
He didn’t say compared to what but, “Enforcement, protection of these rights is too important to be piecemeal.”
“Other efforts are afoot to strengthen the government’s [read entertainment cartels’] hand in combating IP theft,” says the story, continuing >>>
Earlier this year, Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) introduced a bill specifically seeking the creation of a copyright czar.
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is at work on his own bill, designed to ensure that counterfeit goods, estimated to cost the U.S. economy 750,000 jobs and $250 billion annually, are caught at customs.
Hatch is, of course, infamously locked into the labels and movie studios, once seriously suggesting the way to combat file sharing was to blow up users’ computers.
And actually, it wasn’t him who came up with the original ‘blow up computers’ idea. It was his then aide, one Thomas D. Sydnor II who’s currently mixed up in another entertainment cartel endeavour also featuring the MPAA, but this time centering on the contentious ‘making available’ issue.
.
.Stumble It!
BusinessWeek - To Crown a Copyright Czar, June 22, 2008
p2pnet - Whitehouse gets Top Copyright Cop, May 7, 2008
Thomas D. Sydnor II - MPAA joins RIAA in Jammie Thomas attack, June 24, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
June 27th, 2008 at 10:18 am
As soon as they apoint a “Top Copyright Cop” We will Tarr and feather him/her!
Any candidates?
June 27th, 2008 at 10:19 am
We should tar and feather Hatch too!
June 27th, 2008 at 10:46 am
You got the Big 4 and Hollywood lists reversed.
June 27th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
^^ Fixed. Thanks
Cheers!
June 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
This is getting rediculous. If you have enough money, you then have the power to create new government branches. How much longer until Bill Gates creates an operating systems czar, or even some less savory individual creating a prostitution czar.
I thought that the word “czar” was Russian for king. I suppose the bush administration has decided to take a break from reality for the summer. (more so than usual).
June 28th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Better get all the IP addresses for this new branch and add it to our ipfilter lists… ;0
June 29th, 2008 at 4:49 am
“Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is at work on his own bill, designed to ensure that counterfeit goods, estimated to cost the U.S. economy 750,000 jobs and $250 billion annually, are caught at customs.”
And how much of that money is for fake foreign brands, sucy a fake Rolex watches, Cartier purses, Yves St. Laurent shirts, Mercedes parts, etc?
Don’t american (at least the leadership) understand that amercans are a net looser on on trade and what the IP Czar would be doing would be protecting the foreing brands and their ridiculous rip-off prices?
Then, most fake products are made in foreign countries, where americans have no jurisdiction.
Overall, the idea of an IP Czar is good simply becaise it will be a big flop and that will get americans into thinking that IP protection is not the way to an improved life for the average american, who owns no IP rights and pays dearly for products protected by copyrights, patents and tradenemes. Perhaps then americans will realize that it is all a gimmick of the upper crust of society to scam consumers who live beneath the crust.
BTW, there is no proof that protection of IP is the best alternative to induce creators to create more better creations.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
here is what is going on in the world
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5420753830426590918
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=police+state&spell=1