More countries actively address pirating through enforcement of site blocking by their national Internet Service Providers. Unfortunately for those in the creative fields, the U.S. is not one of them.
In a candid interview on Ep 3 of this season’s “Understanding IP Matters” (now on both video and audio), ex-Hollywood studio boss, Ruth Vitale delivers the straight story about what fakes and counterfeit prints are doing to the movie industry and the hundreds of thousands or workers it employs.
“Movies,” reminds Vitale, “are still among America’s most lucrative exports.”
Founder and co-president Paramount Classics, as well as a producer, and ex-president of respected Fine Line Features, Vitale discusses her efforts to affect U.S. legislation that would allow for site blocking, strengthening the entertainment industry and protecting U.S. consumers.
“Film and entertainment industries are not just what the public sees on television at the Oscars and other red-carpet galas,” says Vitale. “The production process requires hundreds of workers for hours and hours each day.”
For the video of the discussion with Vitale on the CIPU YouTube channel, go here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZk165UL2V8fNiJjVcQtnmQ
For the audio on Buzzsprout or to read the transcript, go here:
Oscars, Golden Globes and More
Vitale has produced films that have won three Oscars and received 16 Academy Award nominations, as well as 18 Golden Globe nominations. As president of production for Vestron Pictures, she broke new ground with the highest-grossing independent film of the time, “Dirty Dancing”.
Says Ruth Vitale:
- Each year “piracy cost the U.S. economy between $29 billion and $71 billion a year in lost revenue and between 230,000 and 560,000 jobs.”
- Artificial intelligence (AI) companies, especially those that are developing large language models (LLMs), “are talking out of both sides of their mouth.
- They don’t want to have to pay for the content that their LLMs are using. At the same time, they get up in arms when China steals their AI… You can’t have it both ways.”
Vitale is now CEO of CreativeFuture, a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 organizations and 300,000 individuals that support the value of creativity.
Image source: CIPU for Understanding IP Matters
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