Copyright protection should not be weakened for the...
Copyright protection should not be weakened for the sake of potential technological innovation, Copyright Alliance Executive Director Sandra Aistars wrote in her prepared testimony for Thursday’s House Intellectual Property Subcommittee copyright hearing. In examining the Copyright Act, subcommittee members should…
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“strive for a well functioning copyright act that will unite the interests of all stakeholders to a common goal” and not “proceed from the basis of any particular business model,” she wrote. Aistars suggested lawmakers use the oversight role of the committee “to encourage law enforcement to take seriously criminal violations of the copyright law, and it can encourage all stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem to proactively take commercially reasonable, technologically feasible measures to reduce the theft of intellectual property.” The need for strong copyright protection “is today, at an all-time high” due to the ways visual media can be shared online, said Eugene Mopsik, executive director of the American Society of Media Photographers, in his prepared testimony. “The advent of the digital era has made it fast, easy and simple for images to be stolen or otherwise infringed,” he said. Without copyright protection, the future of professional photographers and “the integrity of our visual history” would be at risk, Mopsik wrote. Thursday’s hearing is also scheduled to include testimony from Getty Images General Counsel John Lapham, Stereo D President William Sherak and Yep Roc Records cofounder Tor Hansen.