Tech Industry Blasts Obama Administration, Says Legitimate Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts Being ‘Hijacked’

Legitimate efforts in the United States to address counterfeiting problems have been “hijacked” to benefit rights holders who should protect their own interests and change their business models, the Computer & Communications Industry Association has said.

“The legitimate desire to address some serious counterfeiting abuses – such as medications or industrial components used in defense products – has been hijacked to create draconian proposals to alleviate the content industry of the burden of protecting its own interest using its own extensive resources,” CCIA’s President and CEO Ed Black said in a release.

“Copyright regulation has grown into a massive and complicated bureaucratic system, which has lost sight of it purpose and limits,” CCIA said following the release of a White House paper [pdf] outlining legislative recommendations for intellectual property enforcement. In the paper, Victoria Espinel, the US IP Enforcement Coordinator, proposes to increase existing criminal penalties against IP rights infringers (IPW, IP Live, 16 March 2011).

“The capture of this Administration and key members of Congress by the powerful special interests called Big Content continues to grow as demonstrated by this report, which fails to address the need for a balanced reform approach,” CCIA said. CCIA represents a range of tech companies, including many copyright holders, it said.

CCIA sharply criticised the administration’s efforts in recent months to unilaterally take down websites off the internet on suspicion of IP rights infringement, at the expense of civil liberties.

“Maybe we should be grateful our government only wants to make streaming a song or movie a felony with potential prison time as punishment,” Black said. “What’s next, corporal punishment?”

“This is the latest indication of the extent to which the content industry has infiltrated this administration and managed to turn the Administration’s IP agenda into a policy which protects old business models at the expense of consumers, citizens’ rights and our most innovative job creating industries,” he said.