Revolving Door: Obama Nominates Copyright Maximalist Lobbyist To Deputy USTR Position
from the this-is-a-problem dept
We recently highlighted the massive problem of the revolving door between the USTR's office and various patent and copyright maximalist organizations. One example of this was Victoria Espinel, a former USTR official (and then IP Enforcement Coordinator -- better known as the IP Czar), who went on to become the head of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the maximalist lobbying/trade group that is basically a voice for Microsoft, IBM and Adobe's copyright maximalist positions. Espinel's predecessor in the job was Robert Hollyeman, who lead the BSA for two decades, during which time it became well known for its preposterous studies equating every infringing copy to a lost sale.Among one of Holleyman's most notoriously miscalculated moments was that he was one of the chief lobbyists pushing SOPA and PIPA, celebrating the bill and pushing it along in Congress... right up until (rumor has it) Microsoft freaked out and told him to knock it off.
And, because the USTR just can't position itself as maximalist enough, President Obama has now nominated Holleyman as deputy USTR, where it seems likely he'd be a key figure in making sure that the TPP and TTIP/TAFTA agreements continue to include all sorts of favors for copyright maximalists. For years, the USTR has made it clear that it views copyright and patent maximalism as not just the best policy for the US, but one it feels the need to force on every other country. This, despite overwhelming evidence of the harm excessive monopoly rights do to innovation, health and the economy. Unfortunately, the latest in the revolving door saga shows, yet again, that the USTR's focus on over-protecting legacy businesses -- at the expense of the public and innovation -- is a policy that is going to continue.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: revolving door, robert holleyman, ustr, victoria espinel
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The earth shattering news would be if he put a sane person there.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Politicians don't even attempt to hide their corruption anymore, apparently because they don't have to. The DOJ isn't going to prosecute them, and Congress isn't going to draft any anti-corruption legislation.
Only once people's lives become miserable enough from the corruption, will change actually occur. I guess America hasn't hit that threshold yet, but I suspect we're getting close to it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's funny that Holleyman, like so many other revolving-door Washington careerists, owns a consulting company. We can be sure its stock just went up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stop robbing the graves!
Retroactive copyright extensions are a violation of the contracts made with artists. And since the same logic holds for yet living creators, it means that it bereaves the creators of the choice of making an honest living unless they want to have their work be locked up for eternity. An artist has no way to guess what consequences a contract with the RIAA or similar institutions will have. And there are few to no alternatives apart from not making any contract at all.
The stock contracts are basically selling your artistic soul for eternity. You might as well undersign with your blood.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]