Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Entertainment Caucus, chaired by Congresswoman Diane E. Watson, held its second Congressional briefing with members of the Motion Picture Association and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on June 5 to discuss law enforcement efforts to curb movie piracy.
“The film industry loses $3.5 billion annually to movie pirates, and the numbers are growing each year,” said Congresswoman Watson. “A significant portion of the pirated revenues would have gone to the City of Los Angeles and State of California.”
The recent high profile arrest of Johnny Ray Gasca in Los Angeles, who has been charged with copyright infringement for illegally camcording the movie premiere of The Core, is just one of many methods movie studios are using to fight back.
Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of American, opened the briefing with an engaging discussion of the growing problem of copyright infringement in the movie industry.
A group of FBI agents, specializing in cybercrime and intellectual piracy, presented a detailed overview of the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Gasca, who faces federal charges of misdemeanor copyright infringement. It is reported that Gasca had been clearing $4,500 a week from selling bootlegged films. His arrest marks a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the U.S. government and entertainment industry to identify and prosecute movie bootleggers.
“It is clear to me that Congress must play a more active role to ensure that the integrity and viability of the movie industry, a major source of our nation’s export revenues, are maintained,” said Watson. “I and my colleagues will continue to examine potential avenues of legislation to strengthen copyright protection of movies and to sponsor future events that highlight this growing and very serious problem.”
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