CreativeFuture urges the Biden Administration to adopt a strong copyright agenda

By Emmanuel Legrand

The CreativeFuture coalition, representing more than 560 companies in the creative sector (film, television, music, publishing, photography, and other core copyright industries), has urged the Biden administration to adopt policies that will "maintain America’s role both as the global leader in the creative arts and a global champion for free expression and intellectual property rights."

  In a letter to President Joseph R. Biden, the CreativeFuture coalition said that creative industries have been hit hard by the pandemic in 2020 and that they needed all the support it could get to whether the crisis.

  "2020 was particularly cruel to the creative industries," reads the letter. "The pandemic largely shuttered film and television production for much of the year. It closed live music venues, from stadiums to local clubs, and has forced stores that sell our books, video games, and other creative products to close their doors."

Economic challenges

  It added: "To make matters worse, the pandemic led to a rapid increase in digital piracy, as criminal enterprises capitalised on the fact that so many Americans were forced to remain at home. At a time when many are still unable to work, piracy is cutting into the already reduced legitimate revenue streams from our creations, exacerbating our economic challenges"

  For Ruth Vitale, CEO of CreativeFuture, there is "critical work to be done, both in Congress and in the Executive Branch, to ensure that copyright law works better to promote American creativity. We must ensure that the internet, which can be a great tool for creativity, cannot serve as a weapon to harm creatives on a massive scale."

  The signatories also said they expected the Biden Administration to support "ongoing efforts to ensure that the biggest internet platforms – companies such as Facebook and Google – have greater accountability for addressing the unlawful conduct occurring across their worldwide services." 

Combat commercial piracy

  Vitale told The Hill that the coalition is looking for the the strict enforcement of two pieces of legislation that were signed into law at the end of 2020: the Protect Lawful Streaming Act, which made massive copyright infringement a felony rather than a misdemeanor; and the CASE Act, the small-claims court set up within the Copyright Office, which will allow independent creators to seek up to $30,000 in damages for copyright infringement.

  The letter concludes: "We hope that as our President, your team will build upon your ongoing commitment to strong copyright protection as a bedrock element of American domestic and foreign policy and will help us to combat commercial piracy in the United States and around the globe."