Mitch Bainwol Addresses the Presidential Campaign
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007 by adminGuest blog by Recording Industry Association of America Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mitch Bainwol:
It wasn't that long ago that our American economy was driven
by what we could create with our hands. Now, of course, our future
is predicated on what we create with our minds. In the evolving global
economy, our economic advantage is rooted in our creativity. Intellectual
property is the business of America.
The next President will significantly shape or initiate policies, both
national and international, that dramatically affect the health and vitality of
the intellectual property sector, especially our copyright community.
Whether it's ensuring that our trading partners comply with their
international obligations to protect copyrights, or strengthening enforcement
to address copyright theft here at home, or crafting new rules of the road for
fair commerce in a digital world, federal policies have a real, and increasing,
impact on our day-to-day lives and businesses.
I believe it is both possible and imperative that we find the sweet spot
that maximizes incentives for technological and creative innovation.
Device manufacturers and platforms that deliver our content are our
partners. But partnership is not a one-way street. It requires a
shared commitment to property rights.
The new digital world offers enormous opportunities for consumers,
creators and businesses – so long as we don't eviscerate the most fundamental
cornerstone of the American economy. That of course, is property rights.
In the coming years, there will be those who lose sight of the sweet spot
we need to find, and instead, will suggest the notion of property rights in a
digital age is little more than a quaint relic of the past.
They will warp concepts of fair use into justification for
free use under almost any circumstances. They will seek to weaken enforcement
penalties to diminish respect for IP. They will assume the flow of
content continues regardless of the existence of incentives to create.
That's why elections do matter. When Americans vote, they are
making decisions about the values important to them. And one of those
values must be a commitment to creativity. For some, that
commitment will be a function of the economic significance of intellectual
property. For others, that commitment will be about the power of
the ideas our content spreads throughout the world. But the
commitment to intellectual property rights, whatever the motivation, is what we
must look for.
Will political leadership be seduced by those who value physical
property more than they value intellectual property, or will our leadership
embrace the perspective that intellectual property rights, enshrined in the
U.S. Constitution, deserve continued protection? Will they
understand that the continued supply of rich content is a function of respect
for creative property rights? Will they grasp that our nation's economic
prosperity will be enhanced if we support creativity fully so that the richness
of our content can power demand for the devices and platforms that carry it?
Will they appreciate the power of the American idea that so often
inspires people all around the globe?
I believe they will. But those of us engaged in the business of
creativity have an obligation not just to assume that our leadership will be
thoughtful about these issues, but to make sure that their understanding of the
complexity of these issues is sound.
We are one of the few sectors of the economy with a set of issues that
are not fundamentally partisan or essentially ideological. That
means we shouldn't look at labels (political) and presume our interests are
paramount. It means we have the duty to ask the candidates on both sides
of the aisle specifically how they view creativity in the evolving marketplace.
