The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“Today the Justice Department announced the formation of a new Intellectual Property Task Force. We hope the DoJ is intent on focusing this task force on prosecuting mass illegal reproduction of copyrighted material such as CDs and DVDs. At the same time, we believe it would be a mistake, and a misuse of government resources, for the Department to pursue cases against non-commercial consumer activity.
“The Department noted the Task Force is being formed as a result of a summit meeting held by Vice President Biden, at which most of the discussion was held behind closed doors with industry representatives. We noted at the time that no consumer representatives were allowed to participate in that meeting, nor was anyone present who would speak for a balanced copyright policy. We look forward to the Administration taking the time to examine both sides of these very contentious issues.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.