Three cheers to the Obama Administration for hosting Tuesday at the White House a key jobs summit, one involving the jobs of creators and their collaborators in creation. The Associated Press quoted the host of the event, Vice president Joseph Biden, as saying of copyright piracy:

“This is flat unadulterated theft, and it should be dealt with,” Biden said. “We are committed to making some real inroads — to stop the talking and start the acting.”

Many high-level Obama Administration officials were present and committed to increased protection of the rights of copyright owners, including some who have spoken forcefully in the past on the importance of copyright protection, such as Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos. Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Robert Mueller were there, part of a commitment for more robust action at the Department of Justice against infringement, to be funded in part by new monies and programs that resulted from last year’s passage of the PRO-IP Act.

The PRO-IP Act also led to the creation of an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at the White House. Victoria Espinel just received Senate clearance for that post, and was on hand Tuesday as well.

Biden and other Obama Administration officials noted the millions of jobs at stake, from individual creators to workers in copyright industries from make-up artists to engineers, as well as the billions of dollars lost to the U.S. economy by piracy. As the AP put it: “Calling it a top priority, the Obama administration said it will draw on law enforcement, trade agreements and other pressure to force compliance with copyright laws.”

This is a welcome move by the Administration. Many of its Cabinet members, including USTR Ron Kirk, have spoken forcefully about the need to enforce copyright owners’ rights, but a White House summit certainly helps. There are many problems in our economy that cannot easily be solved by government action.

But there are many steps the U.S. government can take, small steps that yield large rewards.

During the PRO-IP debate, respected economists noted that cutting losses due to counterfeiting by even five to ten percent would create at least 174,000 new U.S. jobs per year after three years. During that time, overall U.S. economic output would increase by at least $27 billion due to domestic production reclaiming the market from pirated goods. For every tax dollar spent on increased intellectual property enforcement as a result of the steps called for in PRO-IP, at least three new dollars in federal taxes would be collected, and federal tax revenue would increase $1.4 billion or more over 3 years.

One of the authors of that study was Dr. Laura Tyson, an MIT-trained economist who was the chief economic advisor for President Bill Clinton and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

Several unions were represented at the White House event, one of many types of organizations that represents individual creators in the copyright community. Those unions put out a statement thanking Vice President Biden and the Administration for the summit and for their commitment to increased enforcement of creators’ rights. Noting piracy was eroding the funds the unions use to provide health care and pensions to members, they added:

But if intellectual property can be protected from the insidious threat posed by digital theft and counterfeiting, the Internet can become the vehicle for innovation, creation, ingenuity and job growth, instead of the undoing of a vital domestic industry. This is wholly dependent upon the creation and implementation of regulations, laws and programs to prevent, deter and enforce against the crime of digital theft.

As we saw during the PRO-IP debate, we have many laws in this country, and around the world, meant to protect creators’ rights, but enforcement is sorely lacking. All of us as consumers of copyrighted works benefit when there is a market to create those works, and thus benefit from increased enforcement of those rights and laws.

Not everyone was happy with yesterday’s summit. I blogged yesterday about how some on the extreme of this debate won’t accept even the notion that there is clear, black-and-white piracy that benefits no one but the thieves, to borrow Vice President Biden’s turn of phrase; this piracy harms creators and their professional partners and makes it more difficult for future creative works to be financed and produced.

We saw another example of this striking lack of acknowledgment of reality in a statement by a group dedicated to reducing copyright owners’ rights. The statement was the latest attack on the Obama administration by a group that championed then-Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign; having been in Washington twenty years, I’m still amazed when folks turn on their own in a public and aggressive manner.

Back in April, the Copyright Alliance joined with forty other unions, artists’ alliances, think tanks, corporations and trade associations in defending President Obama and his Administration from a similar, narrow-minded attack from some of his “friends.”

This latest attack will be unlikely to be taken with much seriousness by the Administration. For one, it suggests that Vice President Biden knows little about intellectual property: “If Vice President Biden is truly interested in learning more about intellectual property, we hope he will continue his consultations with a group of people who share a wider range of views than those with whom he will meet today.”

Yup, at a summit focused on jobs and economic activity, the Vice President met with those creating jobs and employed in an industry producing great economic activity. How reckless of him.

The Vice President, while a Senator, was one of the foremost experts on intellectual property and its contributions to our economy. He shared some of his expertise this spring in speaking at an event in D.C., but anyone who observed him as the former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary and Foreign Relations Committees saw that knowledge in action. Oh, and did I mention that he was a co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus?

Yes, the best way to influence the Vice President of the United States is to tell him he has a lot to learn about an area of his expertise. Smooth.

We like to focus on the positive at the Copyright Alliance, and once again — just as when we took individual creators recently to a warm meeting at the White House — we have many positives to focus on with the Obama Administration.

On behalf of all artists and creators and copyright owners, thank you.

Here’s the media advisory from the White House, reprinted below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 14, 2009

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

Vice President Biden to Host Roundtable Discussion on Enforcing Laws Against Piracy of Intellectual Property

WASHINGTON, D.C .– Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 15, at 3:15 PM EST, the Vice President will hold a roundtable discussion on this Administration’s commitment to enforcing laws against the piracy of intellectual property. The Vice President will be joined by Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, FBI Director Robert Mueller, USSS Director Mark Sullivan, as well as CEOs from major media conglomerates, union representatives, legal experts and other government officials. This White House meeting is the first of its kind, and will bring together all of the stakeholders to discuss ways to combat piracy in this rapidly changing technological age.

The opening remarks by the Vice President, Attorney General Holder, Secretary Napolitano and Secretary Locke will be POOLED for TV cameras, and OPEN to print, online, radio and still photographers. An RSVP is required to participate.

WHAT: Vice President Biden to hold roundtable discussion on this Administration’s commitment to enforcing laws against the piracy of intellectual property.

WHO: Vice President Joe Biden
Attorney General Eric Holder
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke
FBI Director Robert Mueller
USSS Director Mark Sullivan
CEOs from major media conglomerates, union representatives, legal experts and other government officials
*Full List of Meeting Attendees is included below

WHEN: Tuesday, December 15, 2009

3:15 PM EST
Gather time: 2:30 PM EST on Jackson Place, outside the White House Conference Center

WHERE: White House Conference Center

726 Jackson Place (adjacent to Lafayette Square Park)

RSVP: Press who wish to cover this event should RSVP to press@ovp.eop.gov by no later than Tuesday, December 15,

at 11:00 AM EST and include their Date of Birth and Social Security Number.

###

Full List of Meeting Attendees:

The Honorable Joe Biden
Vice President of the United States

The Honorable Eric Holder
United States Attorney General

The Honorable Gary Locke
United States Secretary of Commerce

The Honorable Janet Napolitano
United States Secretary of Homeland Security

The Honorable Robert S. Mueller
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Honorable John T. Morton
Assistant Secretary, United States Immigration & Customs Enforcement
Department of Homeland Security

The Honorable David Kappos
Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and
Director, United States Patent & Trademark Office

The Honorable Douglas A. Smith
Assistant Secretary, Office of the Private Sector
Department of Homeland Security

Valerie Jarrett
Senior Advisor and Director, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement
The White House

Mark J. Sullivan
Director, United States Secret Service

Michael Lynton
Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment

Barry Meyer
Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. Entertainment

Carol Melton
Executive Vice President, Time Warner Inc.

Philippe Dauman
Chairman & CEO, Viacom

DeDe Lea
Executive Vice President, Viacom

Jeffrey Zucker
CEO, NBC Universal

Rick Cotton
General Counsel, NBC Universal

Alec French
Vice President, NCB Universal

Edgar Bronfman
CEO, Warner Music Group

Linda Bloss-Baum
Vice President, Warner Music Group

Brian Murray
President & CEO, Harper Collins

Zachary Horowitz
President & COO, Universal Music Group

Matthew Gerson
Executive Vice President, Universal Music Group

Michael Regan
Executive Vice President, News Corporation

Richard Bates
Senior Vice President, The Walt Disney Company

Toni Bush
Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Daniel Glickman
Chairman & CEO, Motion Picture Association of America

Mitch Bainwol
Chairman & CEO, Recording Industry Association of America

Matthew Loeb
International President, The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of
the United States

Kim Roberts Hedgpeth
National Executive Director, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

Taylor Hackford
President, Directors Guild of America

Jay Roth
National Executive Director, Directors Guild of America

David Israelite
President & CEO, National Music Publishers’ Association

David White
National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator, Screen Actors Guild

Alan Hoffman
Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Vice President

Victoria Espinel
Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Office of Management &
Budget

Terrell McSweeny
Domestic Policy Advisor, Office of the Vice President

Andrew Kline
Senior Advisor for Crime Policy, Office of the Vice President

Susan Davies
Associate Counsel to the President

James Garland
Counselor to the Attorney General and Deputy Chief of Staff, Department of Justice

###

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 7:46 am by Patrick Ross and is filed under Obama, capitol hill, copyright law, copyright opponents, counterfeit, creators, economy, events, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.