Representatives
of the six largest Hollywood film studios will attempt to link job loss to
piracy in testimony this morning before the House Judiciary Committee.
Michael
O'Leary, who oversees policy and external affairs for the Motion Picture
Association of America, the trade group for the top film studios, will tell
lawmakers that "fundamentally" the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is
about saving jobs.
The
fight over SOPA is white hot. Supporters say the legislation is designed to
speed up the process of shutting down Web sites accused of trafficking in
pirated or counterfeit materials.
Critics
say the bill is a means for big entertainment companies and other copyright
owners to thwart innovation and stifle free speech.
In
addition to the MPAA, Pfizer, the AFL-CIO, and Mastercard, all of which support
the bill, will be testifying tomorrow before the Judiciary Committee. The only
dissenting witness planned to speak will be Katherine Oyama, a policy counsel
at Google. That more people who oppose the bill were not invited to testify has
angered SOPA opponents.
In
O'Leary's written testimony submitted to the Judiciary Committee, the MPAA exec
wrote that the motion picture and television industry supports more than 2
million American jobs in all 50 states. He adds that the industry also includes
more than 95,000 small U.S. businesses with the vast majority employing fewer
than 10 people.
"These
are businesses like Fletcher Camera & Lenses in Chicago," O'Leary
wrote, "whose full-time staff of 25 employees works to provide equipment
for film, television, and commercial productions in the Midwest."
One
other point worth noting is that while many copyright owners are saying that
the existing Digital Millennium Copyright Act has failed to protect copyright
owners, O'Leary said that the DMCA works.
"And
where these sites are legitimate and make good faith efforts to respond to our
requests, this model works with varying degrees of effectiveness," O'Leary
wrote. "It does not, however, always work quickly, and it is not perfect,
but it works."
The
DMCA is supposed to protect Internet service providers from liability for
copyright violations committed by users. They must satisfy a requirement that
includes removing pirated content once they receive a so-called takedown notice
form a copyright owner.
