Copyright Alliance

The Copyright Alliance is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(4) organization representing artistic creators across a broad range of copyright disciplines.[1]

Copyright Alliance
FormationDecember 14, 2006
Type501(c)(4) nonprofit organization
Purposecopyright education and advocacy
Location
  • Washington, D.C.
CEO
Keith Kupferschmid
Websitecopyrightalliance.org

The Copyright Alliance's institutional members include over fifty trade organizations, associations, unions, companies, and guilds, that represent millions of individual creators.[2] The Copyright Alliance also directly collaborates with and represents thousands of creative individuals and small businesses.[2] The creative industries represented include writers, composers, recording artists, journalists, documentarians, filmmakers, graphic artists, visual artists, photographers, and software developers.[3][4]

History

At its launch in May 2007, the Copyright Alliance was founded by four Board members, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Broadcast Music, Inc., the Motion Picture Association of America and Universal. It was initially created and masterminded by President and CEO of the MPAA Jack Valenti. Music artists Steve Cropper and Lamont Dozier attended the launch, which included a membership of 29 organizations purporting to represent 11 million workers, including the Association of American Publishers, Microsoft, the Recording Industry Association of America, Viacom and Walt Disney.[5]

The launch of the Copyright Alliance was supported by U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), ranking Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), and Representative Howard Berman (D-CA), members of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet. Berman, speaking of his inspiration by the late Jack Valenti, spoke of "the constant assaults on copyright law" and called the group's launch "a tremendous idea".[5] Coble said that "Digitization and related technologies beg some changes to the copyright laws, and I wish you the best of luck and my support as you roll out the Copyright Alliance".[6]

The Copyright Alliance was launched in opposition to the Digital Freedom Campaign, formed the preceding October, whose members include the Consumer Electronics Association, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Freedom Foundation.[5]

Patrick Ross served as executive director for four years until succeeded by Sandra Aistars on December 20, 2010.[7] Prior to taking the position Aistars was Vice President and Associate General Counsel at Time Warner. On September 15, 2015, it was announced that Keith Kupferschmid would succeed Sandra Aistars as CEO of the Copyright Alliance.[8] Kupferschmid previously served as General Counsel and Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property at the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA).[9]

Members

As of July 2019 the Copyright Alliance listed fifty one organizations as organization members.[10]

Trade associations
Trade unions
Copyright collection societies
Media companies
Tech companies
Sports organizations

Apparel

Activities

In 2009, the organization presented a letter to the White House asking it to pursue policies supportive of artists' rights signed by 11,000 artists and creators.[11] Over the years, the Copyright Alliance has collaborated with various groups. In 2014, it helped the US Copyright Office present its 2014 World IP Day program[12] That same year, it also hosted a briefing on Capitol Hill with the Creative Rights Caucus to "discuss the challenges photographers and visual artists face in the internet age."[13] The organization also has worked with groups such as Google, Yahoo, and Public Knowledge to develop voluntary best practices for addressing online copyright infringement.[14]

Advocacy
Main article: Copyright Remedy Clarification Act

The Copyright Alliance filed briefs in Allen v. Cooper, which was decided in 2020: the Supreme Court of the United States abrogated the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act as unconstitutional, the Copyright Alliance had argued the opposite view.

Political issues

The group supported an IP-PRO bill establishing a "copyright czar" in June 2008 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.[15] The PRO-IP bill was introduced in the Senate shortly thereafter and passed into law.[16] Ars Technica called the bill a victory for "Big Content", though a provision for the Department of Justice to join suits for the benefit of copyright holders was stripped from the bill.[17]

On November 16, 2009, the Copyright Alliance was joined by some of its grassroots members in hand-delivering a letter to the White House signed by more than 11,000 artists and creators, calling on President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to defend the rights of artists and creators.

In May 2009, it launched the Creators Across America campaign, which includes videos of artists and creators across the United States speaking about their arts and their rights under copyright law.

The Copyright Alliance received $600,000 from the MPAA in 2012, which that year had also donated $475,000 to the Center for Copyright Information and $100,000 each to the Democratic Governors Association and Republican Governors Association as part of an anti-piracy campaign.[18]

The Copyright Alliance also supports the Music Modernization Act (MMA), which was entered into law in 2018; and the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (the CASE Act).

See also

References
  1. Aistars, Sandra. "Statement for the Record of Sandra Aistars, Chief Executive Officer, Copyright Alliance, Before The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet". Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  2. Aistars, Sandra. "Statement for the Record by Sandra M. Aistars, Chief Executive Officer, Copyright Alliance, Before the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet on "First Sale Under Title 17"". Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  3. Hart, Terry. "Comments of the Copyright Alliance". Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  4. Aistars, Sandra. "Statement for the Record of Sandra Aistars, Chief Executive Officer, Copyright Alliance, Before The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet". Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  5. Broache, Anne (May 17, 2007). "Backers of stronger copyright laws form lobby group". CNET News.com. Retrieved September 9, 2007. (also available from )
  6. Boulton, Clint (May 18, 2007). "Will Copyright Alliance's Wax Trigger YouTube's Wane?". internetnews.com. Retrieved September 9, 2007.
  7. "Sandra Aistars named executive director, Alliance board announces". Copyright Alliance. December 20, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011.
  8. Johnson, Ted. "Copyright Alliance Names New CEO". Variety. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  9. "Copyright Alliance Leadership". Copyright Alliance. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  10. "Alliance Members". Copyright Alliance. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  11. Georg Szalai (November 16, 2009). "Artists lobby for copyright support". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  12. "2014 World Intellectual Property Day Celebration to Focus on Movies". Library of Congress. April 18, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  13. "CRC, Copyright Alliance host Briefing on Challenges to Photography in the Digital Age". Creative Rights Caucus. April 30, 2014. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  14. Alex Byers (December 20, 2014). "Google vs Hollywood on Sony hack". Politico. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  15. Brooks Boliek (June 8, 2008). "Nancy Sinatra joins the fight for radio royalty". Reuters.
  16. "S. 3325 at thomas.loc.gov".
  17. Nate Anderson (October 14, 2008). "Big Content gloats as Bush signs PRO-IP Act". Ars Technica.
  18. Richard Verrier (November 20, 2013). "MPAA's Chris Dodd earned $3.3 million in 2012". L.A. Times.
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