At
Tuesday’s Global IP Summit former US Senator
and current Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America
(MPAA) Chris Dodd gave an important speech on the positive
impact strong IP rights have for the motion picture industry. Some of the key impacts
Senator Dodd mentioned were:
- Online consumers legally accessed more than 5.7 billion films and 56 billion television episodes in 2013 alone.
- Over 1.9 million people are employed by the American film and television industry.
- There was $120 billion in sales and $16.2 billion in worldwide exports in 2012 alone.
Despite
the billions of dollars in sales and exports, theft of IP, specifically online
piracy, is a very serious problem for movie producers and distributors. (See
this blog from the summer
about “The Expendables 3.”) Senator Dodd cited a Digital Citizens Alliance report which concluded
that ad-supported piracy generates $227 million annually. This astonishing
number should reinforce the idea that even stronger IP rights and more effective
enforcement regimes could benefit the motion picture industry as well as other segments
of the American economy that produce creative content, such as musicians and
recording companies. Senator Dodd then went on to say something powerful:
Indeed, one of
the Internet’s greatest strengths is that it is not a centralized network. No
single entity, government, corporation or individuals controls it. But,
conversely, no single entity can solve its problems. That is why it is vital
for responsible actors, to work together to reach commercially reasonable and
technically feasible solutions if we are going to reduce piracy, and stimulate
innovation.
This is why Senator Dodd promoted MPAA’s
new search engine for legal content, Wheretowatch.com. (See my blog from last week.) He
called it a “one-stop shop, connecting users directly to [more than 100] legal
content sites.” Although
the serious problem of harmful online piracy may still remain and needs to be
combatted, Wheretowatch.com should help
reduce piracy by organizing legal content and placing it at the fingertips of
Internet users.
MPAA is also exploring other voluntary
initiatives that would warn Internet users when they have downloaded illegal
content and then direct them towards legal content websites. MPAA is certainly
doing its part in trying to diminish online piracy and help secure stronger IP
rights. A robust system of IP rights is vital for encouraging more content,
innovation, creativity, and economic growth because it allows entrepreneurs and
artists to realize the returns from their labors.
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