Advanced Television

MPAA’s Dodd urges student awareness on piracy

March 6, 2012

By Colin Mann

MPAA Chairman and CEO Senator Chris Dodd has suggested that universities should play a role in educating students as to the importance of IP rights and reiterated his belief that the technology and entertainment communities need to work together to address issues of legal access to content.

Speaking at the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) annual meeting in Washington, Senator Dodd introduced a panel that explored the challenges of online piracy facing schools and universities across the country.

“University students are growing up in an era far different from when many of us went to college,” said Dodd in his introductory remarks. “Information is at their fingertips, in both legal and illegal form. Some have argued that intellectual property protection and the freedom of speech that universities cherish cannot coexist.  This is wrong .I firmly believe universities can, and should, play a vital role in educating students about the importance of respecting intellectual property rights and the rule of law,” he asserted.

“Young people are key consumers of our content online, and we want to ensure that they can continue to legally watch the shows and movies they love in a whole host of different formats online.  We believe that both innovation – and the co-operation of the tech companies – are critical parts of the conversation about content theft,” he declared.

Panellist Joseph Storch, Associate General Counsel at the State University of New York (SUNY), suggested that by continuing to work together, it was possible to find creative and efficient methods for higher education to comply with the law and for the entertainment industry to protect its intellectual property. “SUNY understands this all too well. Our university does more than a billion dollars every year in sponsored research and our faculty and students create untold amounts of copyrighted material. Intellectual property is as crucial to the mission and future of the State University of New York as it is to the future of the members of the entertainment industry,” he concluded.

Categories: Articles, Content, People, Piracy