Warning of anarchy, Motion Picture Assn. of America prexy Jack Valenti said Monday the new Congress must allow Hollywood to battle digital pirates.
Otherwise, studios won't want to take advantage of the techno revolution and make movies available on the Internet and digital cable.
Valenti's battle cry came during a speech in Santa Monica before the International Trademark Assn.
"As the 107th Congress convenes, there looms the onrush of a collision between copyright and the rowdy, assertive babble of those who are determined to shrink and possibly exile the concept of copyright in order to grab creative material without paying for it," Valenti said.
Copyright and encryption will be Hollywood's top congressional concern in the coming months. Key issues include:
- Finding a vaccine for the Napster virus, so that movies aren't streamed over the Internet for free.
- Copy protecting movies and other high-value programming aired over digital TV. Digital signals can make an infinite number of perfect copies, unlike analog, which breaks down with each generation of copying.
Lawmakers in Congress are likely to take up the issue of copy protection in the coming months, with some arguing that consumers should retain the right to make copies for personal viewing.
Valenti said the industry already loses about $4 billion a year to analog pirated copies. He said the financial impact of pirated digital copies is incalculable.
"(That) is why a film has to be protected in its digital pilgrimage through ancillary market arenas," Valenti said. "Or else it collapses long before it has a chance to reclaim its investment."
Contact Pamela McClintock at
pamela.mcclintock@variety.com