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PRESIDENT'S CORNER January 2010
Happy New Year from the NMPA!  

As 2009 was winding down, several positive developments in Washington signaled a welcome and ongoing understanding by policymakers of the importance of intellectual property rights.  

On December 13th, I had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with Administration officials and other copyright stakeholders hosted by Vice President Joe Biden. Other attendees included Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Director of the F.B.I. Robert Mueller, as well as Barry Meyer, Chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers Entertainment and Jeffrey Zucker, CEO of NBC Universal, among others. I appreciated the opportunity to discuss the challenge of intellectual property theft as well as the Administration’s ongoing efforts to curtail these crimes. I am grateful to the Obama Administration and to the Vice President in particular and I anticipate the opportunity to follow up with specific recommendations.  

Meanwhile, the Administration and Congress have been making good on the promises of the PRO-IP Act, signed into law last year. Just before the holiday break, Congress passed a funding bill that included anti-piracy enforcement resources called for by the PRO-IP Act.  Included in the bill was $30 million for dedicated enforcement activities and personnel. These resources, along with the confirmation of IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, represent significant improvements in federal attention to IP theft and piracy.

I hope you’ll agree these are developments worth celebrating by the music industry.

If you missed it, I would urge you to read an oped by Bono which appeared in the New York Times January 3, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/opinion/03bono.html?em

In it he includes “Intellectual Property Developers” among a list of ten “ideas that might make the next 10 years more interesting, healthy or civil.”

As the music industry prepares to celebrate the finest songwriters and performers of the previous year at this month’s Grammy Awards, I have no doubt he is correct about the future. I applaud his stance.