Executives of content-producing companies and government officials, including Vice President Joseph Biden, met today in Washington, D.C., to discuss ongoing efforts to combat commercial content piracy. The following statements can be attributed to Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) ® and Ed Black, President and CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA):
“We applaud the Administration’s focus on piracy and its convening of a meeting of some of the stakeholders. We urge the White House to focus its efforts on the scourge of commercial piracy. This includes counterfeiting, massive unauthorized disc replication, fraudulent appropriation of intellectual property and infringement of trademarks and patents,” said Shapiro.
He continued, “We urge that other stakeholders be consulted and brought to the White House to continue this important dialogue and to ensure that American consumers are not treated like criminals. Too often the RIAA and other groups advocate an overly aggressive vision of intellectual property that discourages innovation and limits lawful consumer conduct. The resulting environment of excess litigation and disproportionately high statutory damages and other penalties discourages entrepreneurism and burdens America’s innovation future.”
Black stated, “The record Hollywood box office take in 2009 shows that the content community can thrive in the digital world without harming innovation. Our nation must encourage both innovation and balanced intellectual property protection if we wish to maintain our global technology leadership.”