The Copyright Alliance submitted comments today (Wednesday, March 24, 2010) to the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (USIPEC), Victoria Espinel, 1) strongly supporting the Obama Administration’s effort to increase enforcement of copyright owners’ rights, 2) emphasizing the importance of education in helping individuals understand the importance of copyright to the economy and the culture and to them as creators and consumers, and 3) noting ways the USIPEC can help promote that educational message. (Press release here.)

Much of the 23-page filing outlines in great detail the significant contributions of copyright owners to the U.S. economy, job creation and exports, while also noting the harm in all of those areas caused by physical and online infringement. Dozens of different research reports — including sources such as the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Americans for the Arts — are cited. I’m not aware of any one document that combines all of the robust, methodologically sound data that has been compiled in recent years on this issue, so that in itself will hopefully make this document a useful resource.

I am perhaps most excited, however, about submissions the Copyright Alliance did not write. We are aware of hundreds of submissions being made to the USIPEC from individual U.S. artists and creators. We alerted the individual artists and creators we work with of this welcome opportunity, and they helped spread the word, on their blogs, email lists, Facebook, Twitter and every other imaginable way.

It is important to note that we did not do what other advocacy groups tend to favor, namely write text for others to submit under their own names. It would be patronizing to tell artists and creators what to say. By definition, whatever their medium, they are communicators. They can tell their stories much better than we can. They can speak from the heart, with personal stories, why copyright is important to them, why enforcement of their rights matter, and why their ability to create is critical for them and for all of us.

At some point the White House will post all submitted comments on its web site. When it does so I’ll note that on this blog. In the meantime, I’ve seen two creators who also posted their submissions on their blogs. One is by Rowena Cherry, a published novelist, who has embraced modern technology to distribute her work but has suffered from significant theft of her creations. She shares with Ms. Espinel very detailed suggestions on how to help copyright owners continue to have a market for their creativity. Another is by Terri Conrad, who earns a living licensing artistic designs, but who also has suffered from online theft of her creativity.

Ms. Cherry and Ms. Conrad are only two of hundreds of individual artists and creators who wrote with passion to the USIPEC. They are supporting themselves with their creativity to the benefit of all of us, and wish to continue to do so. They have been able to support themselves because of the rights given to them by the U.S. Constitution and U.S. law, and wish for those rights to continue to have meaning in our digital world.

Defending the rights of copyright owners can be a bit depressing at times, when eyeing the disdain held for creators’ rights among a vocal minority, and when taking in the massive infringement that copyright owners are subject to every day. But it is uplifting to have a day where we at the Copyright Alliance, speaking for a full range of creators and creative industries as well individual artists and creators, can all contribute to a noble effort by the U.S. government. Thank you, Ms. Espinel and the Obama Administration, for this opportunity.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 2:10 pm by Patrick Ross and is filed under Obama, counterfeit, creators, culture, economy, education, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.