Arrrrr. Pirates beware.
Declaring that the White House is finally ready to act strongly on international piracy that “stifles creativity, perhaps our greatest export,” Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined with intellectual-property enforcement coordinator Victoria A. Espinel in unveiling a new strategic plan to increase enforcement.
“Piracy is theft,” said Biden. “It is smash-and-grab, no different from smashing a window at Tiffany.”
A new 61-page plan calls for increasing U.S. enforcement with a series of steps, including:
-- Leading by example, seeing that the government and its contractors use products that are legal.
-- Closing down websites that offer content illegally and spotlighting them when other governments don’t close them down.
-- Undertaking a comprehensive review of the country’s intellectual property laws. “The U.S. government must ensure that intellectual property laws continue to effectively and comprehensively combat infringement,” says the plan, noting that technological changes may have outdated and left gaps in current U.S. laws.
-- Try to further publicize countries that aren’t enforcing intellectual property laws. The U.S. Trade Representative already publishes a “notorious markets list.” Now other government agencies will work together to further publicize details of problems cited in the list.
-- Improve sharing of information about any newly discovered technologies to block or defeat copyright protection. The report suggests that as media companies and marketers implement new technologies to protect movies and other intellectual property, they aren’t always explaining them sufficiently so the government can use them to authenticate content. Meanwhile, as the government finds new ways that counterfeiters are using to defeat protection schemes, those aren’t always being passed on to the industry. The report calls for more sharing both ways.
-- Establish better procedures for reporting and following up on rights violations.
Biden noted that many movies are being distributed illegally on the streets of China even before they open in the United States. He promised to work with Espinel to implement parts of the report that would target those pirates.
Espinel said the strategy was developed from more than 1,600 suggestions and numerous meetings, including those with movie industry.
Along those lines, Espinel and Warner Bros. Entertainment chairman-CEO Barry M. Meyer are slated to testify about the enforcement plan to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. But the Motion Picture Association of America and groups from other industries already have praised the plan in statements.
“This plan is an important step forward in combating intellectual property theft and protecting the millions of jobs and businesses that rely so heavily on copyrights, patents and trademarks and help drive the American economy," said Robert Pisano, president and interim CEO of the MPAA.
In its own statement, Disney said the plan demonstrated a commitment “to meaningful and effective enforcement of the intellectual property laws that drive creativity and innovation in this country. We hope will be the first step in a long-term strategy to protect jobs and encourage continued creativity.”
