Sky, BBC, BT, Canal+ Group, Sony and Walt Disney are among a list of companies that have written an open letter to the G7 Ministers of Culture and European Commission president requesting them to take action against internet piracy.
In the letter they say: “We represent many of the largest media and entertainment businesses in the G7, forming a large part of the creative sector that contributes $2.25 trillion to the global economy every year. As well as providing tens of millions of highly skilled jobs, we entertain billions of people every day with diverse content and provide vital investment to support sports, the arts, and culture.
“Given the focus of the G7 Culture Ministers on protecting our cultural heritage, it is fitting that the Ministerial get-together will occur in Florence, which stands for the preservation and protection of culture. This is a vital continuation of the G7/G8 and G20 agendas of previous years, notably of France in 2011 which focused on protecting and promoting culture as of its core objectives.
“We write now to ask for your support to ensure the continued success of the entertainment sector across the G7 countries and beyond. We are faced with an issue as impactful as trafficking of art, as harmful to our sector as any other international challenge, and which is growing more significant by the day. We are speaking about the systematic, wide-spread and sophisticated online infringement of our intellectual property by commercial enterprises that seek to make an illegitimate profit from our endeavour and creativity. It is better known as internet piracy and it places in jeopardy the capacity for our businesses to continue to invest, to grow and contribute to our economies and society.
“Estimates of the rates of internet piracy vary, but most studies show around 30% of internet users around the world access illegal content regularly. The impact of such behaviour threatens billions of investment and tens of millions of jobs in our countries. It affects the whole entertainment supply chain, from the set designer to the make-up artist, from the record producer to the composer, the match day staff at a sporting event to the camera operator and producer, the software coder for a game to the app designer, the cinema exhibitor to the television distributor. No part of our industry goes unaffected.
“We request your attention to this problem in a coordinated and strategic manner, to systematically tackle all the internet piracy challenges that risk holding back our future growth. Internet piracy is a global problem, and while we are committed to using local legal measures available to us to protect our intellectual property, we also look to other responsible actors in the internet ecosystems, including intermediaries, to do their part to protect consumers and support legitimate commerce.
“In 2011, the Presidency of the G8 and G20 declared that “authors and thinkers must not be deprived of the fruit of their talent” in the digital age. The work begun then has been stalled by developments around the world, but now is the time to begin together again. There is no better opportunity than the discussions you will have at the G7 Culture Ministers to issue a strong statement and begin re-energising this important work that will benefit us all, protecting our culture and our economic future”.
The letter was signed by Stacey Snider, CE) and chairman, Twentieth Century Fox Film; Francesco Rutelli, president, Anica; Tim Davie, chief executive, BBC Worldwide; John Petter, CEO, BT Consumer; Christian Seifert, CEO, DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga; Jean Christophe Thiery, president, Canal+ Group; Martin Moskowicz, CEO, Constantin Film; Marco Chimenz, president, European Producers Club; Gina Nieri, executive board member, Mediaset; Kevin MacLellan, chairman, global distribution and international, NBCUniversal; Richard Scudamore, executive chairman, Premier League; Maurizio Beretta, president, Lega Serie A; Jeremy Darroch, group CEO, Sky; Andrea Zappia, CEO Sky Italia; Carsten Schmidt, CEO Germany; Stephen Van Rooyen, chief executive UK & Ireland; Michael Lynton, co-CEO, Sony Entertainment; martin Kallen, CEO, Uefa Events; Frédéric Crépin, general counsel, member of the management board, Vivendi; Steve Cooper, CEO, Warner Music Group; and Andy Bird, chairman, Walt Disney International.