Steve Shannon
On a recent trip to Washington, D.C., I had the pleasure of visiting with Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance. A two-year old organization, it members – all involved in the creation of original works – include songwriters, photographers, recording artists, graphic designers, and software developers, as well as the owners of motion pictures, videogames, and sports leagues.

My chat with Patrick illuminated for me the forces at work in the world of copyright and what the future will hold.  Of course, given my work at BurrellesLuce, a lot of my questions to him were about newspapers and magazines.

In quizzing Patrick about what’s ahead for the printed media, I learned he sees a continuing online evolution. He believes consumers of that media will see a mixed model of free and paid content, with the horse already being out of the barn on free content. Once publishers secure an ongoing and viable business model, Patrick thinks they will then put more muscle behind copyright enforcement, and will rely on technology to track the use of their material.

Because most news items have a shelf life, Patrick believes they have a lower value to digital pirates. Still, Patrick notes when piracy does take place, it happens in real time. Going forward, this may force publishers to become hyper-vigilant about protecting their copyrights.  As an example, Patrick points out that the content of his own blog on copyright is already being pirated and used to sell ads. Patrick is flattered that his content is considered valuable, as his readership is remarkably high given the weighty nature of its subject matter, but like any publisher, he wants his users to interact with his content in the context of his choosing, in this case the Copyright Alliance website.

Of note, Patrick told me that while copyright law is about 300 years old, one can find many examples of the use of the word piracy related to takings of original works about 400 years ago.  Clearly copyrights and their infringement is an age-old issue.

Lastly, I asked Patrick what he sees on the horizon for the next two to three years in regard to copyright.  Patrick’s first observation was that the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007 (PRO-IP Act) signed into law by President Bush is a significant development for copyright protection and enforcement. While not yet funded, PRO-IP should be soon, putting a cabinet-level intellectual property coordinator in the White House and increasing criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringement. Patrick also thinks the Department of Justice will add staff to their computer crimes division for the specific purpose of piracy enforcement.

In wrapping up with Patrick, I asked one more question about the news media world and how the “build it and they will come” model needs to change.  His answer was quick, succinct, and noteworthy for public relations professional in this new Media 2.0 world: “Find your audience and move towards them with content.”  Copyrighted content of course.