LAS VEGAS - In the "Piracy Roundtable" discussion held Tuesday during Internext Las Vegas, producers gave advice on preventing and reacting to piracy.
Moderated by Jason Tucker of Falcon Enterprises, the seminar featured insights from panelists David Sutton, head of VCX; Scott Bain, counsel for the Software and Information Industry Association; Gill Sperlein, general counsel for Titan Media; Allan Gelbard, an adult industry attorney; and Steve "Litghtspeed" Jones, CEO and founder of Lightspeed Media Corp.
The attendees agreed with the panelists' statement that piracy has always been a thorn in the industry's side and always would be.
Gelbard urged content providers to consistently register everything within two months of creation and continue to do so every two months as content is manufactured.
"Register your trademarks [and] call on new watermarking and tagging technology to establish your content and brand," he said. "The more association your content has with the brand, the harder it is to steal and the easier it is to prove it has been stolen."
All panelists agreed that it is important to document URLs containing pirated material as soon as they are discovered and start building a case for action. They said the action can begin with a request for an offending site to immediately take down the stolen material.
Gelbard advised victims of piracy to determine whether the theft demands serious action, adding that it usually does.
"If the offenders don't respond to requests to pull pirated material, swift and serious action should be taken immediately," Bain said. "A clear message must be sent to the criminals who perpetrate these activities. If you steal content, you will be sought out. The industry as a whole is pulling together to put forth that message, and things will get better."
