Consumer Home Recording Rights Dominate Discussions At The 2004 CEA Industry Forum

Stanford University Professor Lawrence Lessig Explores What the Future Holds for This Industry

3-Nov-04

Discussions of the critical balance between protecting consumers' fair use rights, manufacturers' right to innovate and intellectual property took center stage on the second day of the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) 2004 Industry Forum. CEA's Industry Forum, held this week in San Francisco, CA, is the consumer electronics industry's premier event for networking, leadership and education. From a morning panel session to a spectacular keynote from Stanford University Law Professor and Founder of the Center for Internet and Society Lawrence Lessig, leaders of the consumer electronics (CE) and content industries deliberated the implications and current state of legislative and regulatory issues surrounding copyright protections, digital rights management and fair use. The morning began with a panel session, ""Intellectual Property - Policy in the Making?"" and a keynote address from CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro. Shapiro recalled about the creation of the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC), which occurred 23 years ago to the day. The HRRC works in Washington, DC to protect the right to buy and use audio and video recorders, players and PCs. Shapiro gave an overview of the political landscape surrounding intellectual property today with an emphasis on the controversial ""Induce Act.""""We are in danger of slipping into the abyss of a pay-for-play world. In the past 20 years we have seen content companies dramatically shift into more protection battles,"" stated Shapiro. ""We need to continue to advance the understanding that intellectual property and real property are NOT the same thing."" Moderated by Los Angeles Times Staff Writer John Healy, the panel session included a lively debate. The esteemed panelists included, Dean Garfield of the Motion Picture Association of America, Matt Oppenheim of Jenner and Block LLP, Michael Petricone of CEA and Fred von Lohmann of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The discussion focused largely on the controversial Induce Act that was recently halted within the Senate, but is expected to resurface in the next Congress. The content advocates, Garfield and Oppenheim, expressed concern over piracy and morality as well as a dramatic loss in revenue in the motion picture and recording industries that they directly believe is tied to the use of peer-to-peer technology. Petricone and Von Lohmann called for the content industry to grasp the opportunity they have with new technologies. They all agreed to continue to work to preclude any harmful collateral effects that were apparent in the Induce Act.World-renowned intellectual property lawyer, Professor Lawrence Lessig, followed the panel session with a stimulating luncheon keynote on the current digital copyright debate. Professor Lessig challenged Industry Forum attendees to think about the extraordinary potential of technology without restrictions. He proposed a new way of thinking he calls 'DRE' for 'digital rights expressions' - copyright rules that are machine-readable but not machine enforceable. Professor Lessig outlined the four main advantages of DRE as: may be used across platforms, allows the user to respect fair-use, encourages an explosion in the market place and allows for unexpected uses. ""The choice is between supporting the future or retrenching the past,"" Lessig said. ""We are looking at the potential to change the way people share ideas internationally."" In his closing remarks, Lessig called upon the industry leaders before him to use their power to help reframe the debate and support a future where adolescents can have the tools to ""re-mix"" their lives.For more information, visit http://www.CE.org

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