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US anti-piracy group names new chief

US anti-piracy group names new chief

NBC Universal’s executive vice president and general counsel, Rick Cotton, is the new chairman of the US Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP), it was announced on 17 January. Cotton takes over from Gillette’s Paul Fox, who returns to his company full-time following its recent merger with Procter & Gamble.

Fox is confident that his successor will help the CACP to deliver its message: ‘Rick brings to the Coalition extensive experience in IP policy and a profound commitment to this important fight. He understands the need to bring all industries to the table in order to make real, tangible progress.’

Just two days prior to the announcement, the New York Times published an article entitled, ‘Hollywood Asks YouTube: Friend or Foe?’, in which Cotton expressed his frustration with YouTube’s persistent uploading of copyrighted content. The article revealed that three dedicated NBC Universal employees search YouTube daily for studio-owned material, and fire off over 1,000 take-down requests to the site every month. ‘Sand is running out of the hourglass,’ Cotton warned. ‘Companies aren’t prepared to sit by and not let this be addressed.’

As a leading light of New York’s media, Cotton was profiled in November last year on the website of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. ‘There’s a dark side to digital technology,’ he told the site. ‘It has created much greater capability in terms of a very high quality replication and very rapid distribution of stolen copyright material to literally billions of consumers … Many of the major media companies are headquartered here, in New York City. The health of the business, which includes the health of the very significant activities we partake in is at stake.’

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