PHOENIX - The Free Speech Coalition launched its anti-piracy educational roundtables at the Phoenix Forum last weekend and the event was met with broad-based approval.
"Anti-Piracy 101," sponsored by Sureflix Digital Distribution, was designed to give businesses, especially small businesses that don't have an attorney specifically devoted to copyright issues, an opportunity to understand piracy issues, and it did just that.
"We expected to provide a great deal of help to the industry's smaller businesses," said Diane Duke, FSC executive director. "But what both surprised and elated me was the number of larger established businesses that approached me after the roundtables saying that they learned a great deal and planned to implement changes Monday when they got back to their offices."
More than 70 participants broke into four groups to learn about how they could protect their businesses from both the threat and the reality of piracy. The roundtables, which gave attendees practical information and a folder full of valuable handouts, were led by some of the industry's top experts:
Copyright 101: Adam Lucas, manager of Compliance & Digital Video, SpecPub Inc.
Tracking Pirated Assets: Kevin Song, president of Ark Home Entertainment
Cease-and-Desist Letters & Takedown Notices: Greg Piccionelli of Piccionelli & Sarno Attorneys
Suing the Bastards: Jason Tucker, president, Falcon Foto and founding member of the PAK Group
"We took a risk breaking off from the panel format typical to adult industry seminars," said Caryn Goldberg, FSC project coordinator and consultant on the FSC's Piracy Project. "But the risk paid off. Participants loved the format, and we plan to duplicate it at our upcoming seminars."
With the continued support of Sureflix Digital Distribution, FSC will offer the Anti-Piracy 101 roundtables again at the XBIZ Summer Forum in Las Vegas in July and at Internext in Hollywood, Fla., in August.
"Special thanks to Caryn Goldberg for her work on this project and to our speakers for donating their time and efforts to this important project," Duke said.
