Pirating and the Future of Digital Copyright

Changing rules and regulations in the entertainment industry

By Kelsey Schreiberg

Technology has made it possible for both consumers and producers to create and distribute media content faster than ever before. Consequently, copyright enforcement has become more complex and must be viewed through a multifaceted lens.                         

To address these issues, the Intellectual Property and Technology Law Society and USC Gould Professor Jack Lerner hosted a panel discussion with expert attorneys in the field. Lerner is also the director of the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic.

(From left) Genevieve Rosloff, Karen R. Thorland, Andrew Bridges and Prof. Josh Wattles sit on the panel for USC Gould's IP discussion.

Participating panelists were Andrew Bridges, partner at Fenwick & West; Genevieve Rosloff, attorney at Durie Tangri; Professor Josh Wattles, Adjunct Professor at USC Gould and Advisor in Chief at deviantART; and Karen R. Thorland, senior vice president, Global Content Protection Counsel at the Motion Picture Association of America.

The discussion centered around the role judges must play, the cultural divide that exists between generations, and site blocking. One issue discussed was the U.S. government’s abolition of Megaupload, a digital file-sharing site.

Also debated was whether it is illegal to watch streams of music and content that has been downloaded free of charge.

“There is a perception that the government and content industry have been too aggressive, whereas others are entrepreneurial and want more open access,” Rosloff explained.

Although the U.S. government has control over many Internet web companies, the multitude of private interest groups complicates matters. Some large rights holders argue that it is the intermediaries who are best posed to stop piracy.

“I learned [that] the future of the law is largely unknown due to the fact that digital copyright is still in its infancy, and the law does not currently address many issues that are arising with new technologies,” Abtin Amir ‘15 said.

To address these issues in the future, content companies, government, and consumers will need to work together to balance competing needs.

“The biggest challenge has to do with cloud computing and politics need to respond to the times,” Wattles said.