During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Obama proposed a new Trade Enforcement Initiative designed to combat unfair trade practices.  In his remarks, the President stated “It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music and software be pirated.”  According the White House, the initiative includes the formation of a new [...]

Today’s Wall Street Journal opinion page features an oped by economist Stan Liebowitz.  In it he refutes the oft-cited claim that some how piracy promotes sales and stresses that maintaining the status quo would continue to put content industries at risk while enabling for-profit pirates.  He writes:   “A balancing of competing legitimate interests is always [...]

According to reports, two popular file-sharing sites have scaled back access to files on their servers.  FileSonic and Uploaded.to have altered their operations, with Uploaded.to suspending service in the U.S. and FileSonic suspending all file sharing on its site, as well as its affiliate program that pays cash rewards to users’ who upload highly downloaded files. [...]

From timeless classics Where the Wild Things Are or The Velveteen Rabbit to newer favorites Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Is Your Mamma a Llama?, books from your childhood (as well as those you find yourself reading over and over to little ones you love) have a way of sticking with you. Today is National Reading Day – an annual [...]

On Thursday, federal prosecutors shut down one of the world’s largest file-sharing sites.  According to the AP, Megaupload.com is charged with violating piracy laws, costing copyright holders over $500 million in lost revenue from pirated films and other content. Read more about the takedown at the Washington Post.  Additionally, sources report that hacking group Anonymous [...]

The hours leading up to and during yesterday’s blackout of websites in the name of protesting anti-piracy legislation prompted a flurry of coverage, more stark claims about the impending death of the Internet, and knee-jerk reactions to the outcry. Much like waking up with a bad hangover, however, the morning after may provide a moment [...]

Independent filmmaker and grassroots member David Newhoff has a piece on The Hill today highlighting the long-term consequences of overblown rhetoric on thoughtful policymaking and progress. He writes: “If SOPA and PIPA fail, or fail to pass in substantive form, it will indeed be a shame for American content creators and consumers, but the real [...]

A number of Internet sites today have opted to shut down in protest of bills they say would censor the Internet. A headline-grabbing PR stunt, to be sure. But these companies and groups are making charges about the bills that are blatantly untrue, conjuring up straw man legislative demons in order to knock them down [...]

Kathy Wolfe, Founder and CEO of Wolfe Video and Wolfe Releasing –the oldest and largest exclusive distributor of LGBT films in the world– has a piece on the Huffington Post today.  In it she writes that while the Internet is essential to her business and the independent filmmakers she represents, and they “have readily embraced [...]

Appearing today on a panel entitled Infringement, Rogue Websites, and Copyright Crackdowns at International CES, Executive Director Sandra Aistars took the opportunity to refute many of the mischaracterizations of SOPA and PROTECT IP that have been popularized by heated and hyperbolic rhetoric. Joining Sandra on the panel were Ryan Clough, Office of U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren; [...]