Tens of Thousands Tell U.S. Candidates: Copyright Drives Creativity and Innovation

WASHINGTON, DC and LOS ANGELES, CA – As Americans across the country prepare to go to the polls to elect a new President and Congress, the Copyright Alliance and CreativeFuture—two organizations that strongly support creative communities by working to protect creativity and encourage respect for copyright law—have partnered on letters (here and here) and a Change.org petition, to ensure that the views of the creative communities are heard.

Signed by over 35,000 creatives, audience members, fans, and consumers, the letters recognize that the internet is a powerful and democratizing force, but also stress the need for a strong copyright system that rewards creativity and promotes a healthy creative economy. Whether you are a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative or libertarian, strong and effective copyright is not a partisan issue , but rather one that benefits our entire country.

“The copyright narrative in Washington in recent years has been driven by certain stakeholders who want to diminish creatives’ rights for their own commercial benefit, undermining our ability to earn a living, support our families, create jobs, and enjoy freedom of speech and expression. These letters from the creative communities demonstrate that strong copyright protections should be an important priority for our current and future leaders,” said CreativeFuture CEO Ruth Vitale.

Added Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid: “Copyright-dependent industries and individual creators not only contribute greatly to our economy, but help shape our culture through new ideas, expressions, and innovations. Copyright law is the wellspring of American leadership in these industries. We cannot allow our leaders to lose sight of the value it brings to all Americans.”

The letters and petition discuss the complementary relationship between a strong copyright system, free expression, creativity, innovation, and technology. The signers affirmed:

• We embrace the internet as a powerful democratizing force for creative industries and the world at large.
• We embrace a strong copyright system that rewards creativity and promotes a healthy creative economy.
• We proudly assertthat copyright promotes and protects free speech.
• Copyright should allow creative communities to safeguard their rights against those who would use the internet to undermine creativity.
• Creative communities must be part of the conversation and stand up for creativity.

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ABOUT CREATIVEFUTURE
CreativeFuture is a coalition of 450 companies and organizations and thousands of creative individuals
encompassing film, television, music, and book publishing. CreativeFuture promotes the value of creativity, expanded digital access to legitimate content, and the fundamental right of creatives to determine how their works are distributed. To learn more, visit www.creativefuture.org.

ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE
The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest and educational organization representing the copyright interests of over 1.7 million individual creators and over 13,000 organizations
in the United States, across the spectrum of copyright disciplines. The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of
creators and innovators. For more information, please visit www.copyrightalliance.org.