SOPA Round II?
Is SOPA gearing up for a second round and if so, how will it impact your social media marketing presence? Get the inside scoop in today’s expose’ where we cut through the clutter and confusion to bring you the news you need to know in the information era. Learn about the proposed Copyright Commissars and how it can work for – or against – your company. Most important, find out how to position yourself for upcoming changes and legal challenges.
Love the freedom of the Internet? One of these days, the unrestricted sharing of images, content and other information may be but a distant memory. Think it could never happen? Think again. Remember the old days of the Internet when there was almost no way to track the use of information or sharing? Websites copy and pasted their way to fortune and fame by “borrowing” massive amounts of information directly from mega sites like government databases. Easy to install software was soon able to track every original piece of work quickly allowing content creators to send out “cease and desist” notifications to the worst abusers. Then came the sharing of music via Napster and other sites. These early entrepreneurs built an entire industry from peer2peer sharing…forget the fact that the vast majority of users didn’t own a valid copy of the product. Today a similar debate is taking place throughout the nation…indeed, throughout the entire modern world. Copyright infringement is believed to cost millions of dollars in lost royalties and infringe upon the lawful right of the creator leading to an onslaught of proposals designed to curb copyright infringement including text, video, photographs and even audio content.
As a social media management firm, it is our duty to keep clients informed about important issues and without a doubt, one of the most important issues confronting clients concerns intellectual property. In recent months we have covered the proposed SOPA, ACTA and PIPA initiatives each of which has been less than enthusiastically received by individuals and business concerns alike. Fears over lack of precise language, Fair Use guidelines and other ambiguous terms promises to create havoc.
SOPA II?
If it seems as though all has been quiet on the IP front it’s not your imagination. With a sluggish economy and rapidly approaching election season coming up, major media outlets aren’t exactly giving top billing to proposed IP legislation. On the other hand, that is exactly when people should pay attention since the house has been hard at work drafting a revised proposal which many believe will be even worse than the original SOPA plan.
According to industry insiders the Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet Subcommittee of the House has distributed a proposal which would increase property monitoring on a worldwide global scale. An Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property would oversee the broad initiative. This newly created position would have diverse authority and influence. Critics even believe it may spur the start of lobbyists which could easily influence lawmakers to cut deals supporting big business while leaving smaller entities in the cold.
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