M+E Daily

Biden Huddles With Hollywood On Piracy Issues

Vice President Joe Biden, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III are among the top government officials meeting with entertainment industry leaders this afternoon at the White House to discuss how best to fight piracy of intellectual property, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Biden, who as a Senator co-chaired the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, is seen to be on the side of the entertainment industry when it comes to copyright issues.

Washington is devoting an increasing amount of attention to copyright and IP enforcement. Earlier this month the Senate confirmed Victoria Espinel as the nation’s first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, a White House position. Espinel previously served as assistant U.S. trade representative for intellectual property and innovation.

In other anti-piracy news, a holiday-season crackdown on counterfeit vendors in several major U.S. cities led to the seizure of nearly 160,000 discs. The Motion Picture Association has the details of its joint operation with the RIAA, part of a larger program overseen by the IP task force of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.