By RICK FAHR Stephens Media ADVERTISING In 2006, Tim Griffin, then an Army Reserve Judge Advocate General, served in Mosul, Iraq. The U.S. facility there was like others at Baghdad and Taji and Al Nasiryah. It had a bazaar-like trading
By RICK FAHR
Stephens Media
In 2006, Tim Griffin, then an Army Reserve Judge Advocate General, served in Mosul, Iraq. The U.S. facility there was like others at Baghdad and Taji and Al Nasiryah. It had a bazaar-like trading area, a mini-mall if you will.
Troops could purchase all kinds of what-nots — electronics (that may or may not work), collectibles (if you’re into traditional Iraqi cultural items made in China) and genuine “Cuban” cigars.
They could also purchase thousands and thousands of CDs and DVDs. These contained pirated movies, songs, even software. Shops the length and breadth of Iraq had for sale the latest releases of American movies — movies that had barely begun to show in theaters back home. Most of them sold for a couple bucks each.
How was this possible? The DVDs were bootlegged copies of copies of copies that somehow fell into someone’s hands. Often the movies were copies of a recorded video version of the movie shown in a theater somewhere.
In other words, every one of these DVDs contained pirated material, an illegal reproduction of a copyrighted project.
But movies, songs and software aren’t the only copyrighted material offered for sale around the world. Counterfeit drugs are a big seller, too. How to combat such fraud? Go after the buyers or the sellers?
The Stop Online Piracy Act opts for the latter.
SOPA would help copyright holders sue in federal court to block foreign “rogue” websites from offering counterfeit goods.
Griffin — now U.S. Rep. Griffin of Arkansas — sits on the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the bill, and he has been clear in supporting the measure.
“We have a cultural adjustment to make,” he said by telephone Monday. “If someone steals a TV, everyone knows that’s stealing, but a lot of folks don’t feel like downloading something illegally is stealing, and they certainly don’t feel like having a neighborhood ‘knock-off’ party … they don’t necessarily think that is stealing.”
The representative said SOPA will help U.S. intellectual property owners target those who are taking money from them and thereby costing Americans jobs.
“The goal is an honorable goal. Most of the problem is Russia and China and all these people in Europe and in the Near East and over to China who are just giving this stuff out and otherwise should be paying for it and having it be going to Americans,” he noted.
The bill has evolved and will change much more before it sees the House floor, Griffin said. “It is not perfect. We are making it better and need to continue to make it better, but I guarantee it is not going to pass the House until it is as good as it can be.”
There is no doubt that anyone involved with copyrighted material loses in an environment that tolerates piracy. Attempts to mitigate or eliminate piracy’s effects should enjoy wide support.
The detail devils come in trying to enforce one nation’s laws around the world. SOPA’s enforcement mechanism comes at the cha-ching moment.
Under changes made by the “manager’s amendment,” the law would allow copyright holders who have received a federal court order against a rogue seller to present the order to payment processors, such as PayPal, who would then not process the seller’s payments. No money. No sale.
Back to those shops in Iraq — Griffin said he began thinking about copyright infringement when he saw routine infractions of U.S. law taking place on military facilities.
“It had a huge impact,” on his thinking, Griffin recalled. If SOPA becomes law, those cheap movies for sale in little huts in Iraq may have far-reaching repercussions around the world.
