Closing the Book on Rogue Sites
Congress has stepped up to the plate in delivering two pieces of legislation aimed at cutting rogue sites off from U.S. marketplace. The level of support for action on this pressing issue is astounding. This bill is supported by hundreds of businesses, labor and professional organizations, third party groups, and state and local elected officials. Each week, we’re highlighting a new voice in support of rogue sites legislation from a sector impacted by IP theft. This week we have Brian Napack, President, Macmillan, discussing how rogue sites undermine the business of publishers across the U.S.
Businesses and publishing houses attempting to reign in criminals stealing their products and pilfering the hard work of authors has proven to be a challenging endeavor. In January 2010, Attributor, a brand protection firm, dove into the issue of eBook piracy to find some startling conclusions. Their research estimated more than 1 million websites directly linking to pirated books leading to $2.8 billion in revenue losses. This is why authors and publishers, like Macmillan, are calling for legislation to alleviate this growing problem:
“The rampant theft of books on illegitimate money-making websites across the Internet denies authors the right to earn a living from their creative work. By targeting the worst offenders, rogue sites legislation puts these sites on notice. Basically it says, ‘what is clearly against the law on Main Street is also clearly against the law on the Internet.’ This common-sense bill helps to establish the rule of law on the Internet and ensure that creativity and innovation can continue to thrive online.”
Rogue sites legislation is all about protecting the jobs of 19 million Americans with their hard-work and ingenuity. We can close the book on online criminals and IP theft by enacting rogue sites legislation.
