News

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representatives have added a new focus on companies that register domain names worldwide.

RIAA joins industry partners to identify key impediments to effective copyright protection in foreign markets.

For a long time, we’ve been talking about the importance of intermediaries such as search engines, ISP’s, payment processors, and others who participate in the digital music economy (see here). As more and more music access and listening occurs online, those groups have a larger role in helping shape the digital music consumer’s experience. Perhaps that is self-evident in some ways, but recent research findings have more conclusively shown that those intermediaries, and search engines in particular, can have a strong influence on the choices consumers make.

Touts Contribution of Major Labels In New Report The House Judiciary this morning convenes a second subcommittee hearing on music licensing.  Cary Sherman, CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), will testify. 

On Capitol Hill today, the Congressional International Creativity and Theft-Prevention Caucus (formerly known as the International Anti-Piracy Caucus) discussed the importance of taking the profit out of online content theft by developing more robust engagement on the part of advertisers and ad networks, and addressing the activities of rogue sites like Russia’s vKontakte – a long-standing IP violator that is repeatedly featured in USTR’s “notorious markets” report. The caucus highlighted the continuing problems in Switzerland, China, Russia and India, and praised developments in Italy and the Philippines that led to their removal from USTR’s Special 301 lists.

Proposal to simplify licensing would benefit music fans and mean market-based rates for all music creators, says RIAA in filing with U.S. Copyright Office "Modernizing the licensing system for musical works is a win for everyone...must be a collaborative exercise," says RIAA CEO

Progress In Some Countries, But Russia, Switzerland, Other Nations Fail to Implement Adequate IP Protections

A federal indictment is appropriate, but so is holding Megaupload and its operators accountable for the blatant harm caused to the music community, says RIAA

Google's Senior Copyright Policy Counsel Katherine Oyama testified today before the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee during a hearing on notice and takedown procedures. Now, we appreciate Katie and like her a lot. But with all due respect, we have a few quibbles with her testimony…

RIAA Chairman & CEO Cary Sherman submitted written testimony to the U.S House Judiciary IP Subcommittee regarding its hearing on the notice and takedown provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. See here for his comments.