A Different View on PROTECT-IP and the Internet Opponents of legislation to protect American small businesses, artists, authors and entrepreneurs from digital theft have waged a scare campaign about the supposed effect of the bill on the functionality of the Internet. Various individuals have rebutted these claims, including the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. A [...]

Numerous news outlets this morning reported that the MPAA, RIAA and internet service providers are nearing agreement on a long discussed proposal to better educate internet users on legal options for receiving entertainment content online, and to inform consumers who repeatedly engage in infringement online that their actions are inappropriate. We have not seen the [...]

There was a good post on Copyhype this week in support of the PROTECT IP Act and S.978 that argued that as the Internet continues to evolve, the laws regulating it should similarly evolve and adapt. The author notes there are many who think that the only people who need to adapt are content creators, [...]

In the wake of unanimous Senate Judiciary Committee passage of the PROTECT IP Act, Public Knowledge offered this week the same litany of excuses for taking no action against digital theft of American intellectual property online, and appears content to see American workers harmed as a result. In matters of policy debate, it is unfortunate [...]

It was disappointing this week to read comments made by Senator Ron Wyden about potential legislation that would give law enforcement more tools to police bad actors in the Internet marketplace. Individuals and crime syndicates – oftentimes outside the United States – are setting up websites that traffic in unlicensed intellectual property and counterfeit goods. [...]

Even as Members of Congress are drafting legislation designed to help rein in websites that traffic counterfeit and pirated products, an obscure but powerful non-profit is considering actions that have the potential to blow up the problem exponentially. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a California-based non-profit corporation established in 1998 [...]

Doug TenNapel is a graphic novelist and illustrator, whose stories have been sold to Fox, Universal and Paramount. His animated series, “Catscratch”, airs on Nicktoons by Nickelodeon. He is the creator of Earthworm Jim, a character that has been adapted to video games, cartoons and toys. He has a pretty cool career. One to be [...]

It is troubling – though perhaps unsurprising – how quickly efforts to maintain a safe and lawful internet have drawn out apologists for online anarchy and the usual accompanying misinformation and predictions of dire outcomes. While the ink is not yet dry on legislative recommendations issued by the Obama Administration’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, and [...]

In a week when Congress and the Administration are negotiating to keep the government open, a news conference today concerning online theft demonstrated that there are core issues to the economy – such as the importance of American intellectual property as a growth engine and generator of economic prosperity and jobs that can still unite [...]

The House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property yesterday held the first in a planned series of hearings on internet commerce and the impact of web site operators trafficking in infringing and counterfeit products. Illustrating the challenge facing creators large and small was Paramount Pictures’ Chief Operating Officer, Frederick Huntsberry. Mr. Huntsberry, who is among [...]