STATEMENT FROM: Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross RE: Nomination of Victoria Espinel as Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

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“The Copyright Alliance congratulates President Obama on his selection of Victoria Espinel to serve as the first U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Her leadership roles at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative not only put her front and center in intellectual property promotion and enforcement, they also allowed her to demonstrate her ability to work with multiple agencies and stakeholders in a productive, effective manner.

“Today’s appointment is the welcome culmination of many months of work toward a more streamlined approach to intellectual property enforcement by the federal government. This appointment and its locale within the Office of Management and Budget is a strong sign by the Administration that it believes in the importance of creators’ rights and seeing those rights are enforced here and abroad.

“Now the real challenges begin. The copyright community will watch with great interest and stand ready to contribute where needed as this new office is established and begins operations.

“We urge the Administration to give her every resource, and encourage all officials with a stake in intellectual property enforcement to work with her on a task that is critical to our nation’s economic growth and job creation.”

ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth. For more information, please visit http://www.copyrightalliance.org/.

Members of the Copyright Alliance include: American Federation of Musicians; American Federation of Television & Radio Artists; American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Photographic Artists; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; American Society of Media Photographers; Association of American Publishers; Association of Independent Music Publishers; AT&T; Broadcast Music, Inc.; Business Software Alliance; CBS Corporation; Church Music Publishers Association; Directors Guild of America; Entertainment Software Association; Graphic Artists Guild; Langley Productions; Magazine Publishers of America; Motion Picture Association of America; National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR); National Association of Broadcasters; National Collegiate Athletic Association; National Music Publishers' Association; National Basketball Association Properties, Inc.; NBC Universal; News Corporation; Newspaper Association of America; Picture Archive Council of America; PPL and VPL; Professional Photographers of America; Professional School Photographers Association; Recording Industry Association of America; Reed Elsevier; SESAC; Software & Information Industry Association; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Time Warner; Universal Music Group; Viacom; The Walt Disney Company; and Writers Guild of America, West.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://www.copyrightalliance.org/
CONTACT: Gayle Osterberg, 202/669-0689