EFF FOIA Shows MPAA Lobbied Copyright Office in Lead-Up to CO Set-Top Letter

based on a Freedom of Information Act request. The request yielded 310 pages of emails between CO officials and MPAA Senior Vice President-Government and Regulatory Affairs Neil Fried, then-FCC General Counsel Jonathan Sallet, Capitol Hill offices, reporters including with Communications Daily, and representatives of Comcast, Disney and TiVo. “The Copyright Office has come under scrutiny for alleged systemic bias in favor of major media and entertainment companies to the detriment of Internet users, technology companies, and independent creators,” said EFF. “These documents received by EFF yesterday do nothing to dispel that concern.” The CO didn't comment. The emails show Fried began lobbying the office shortly after the FCC announced its set-top plans, before Sallet began trying to schedule a meeting on behalf of the commission. The CO met with MPAA April 11 and the FCC a week later, the documents show. “Throughout the spring and summer of this year, the Copyright Office alternated between meetings with the FCC, MPAA, and other major content companies such as Comcast and Viacom,” EFF said. “On May 31, just hours after holding a conference call with MPAA, the general counsel of Copyright Office emailed her counterpart at the FCC saying 'the proposed rule may in fact implicate some rather serious copyright concerns.' The emails also show the CO coordinating with members of Congress on formally weighing in on the set-top debate, and that the CO only met with industry advocates for the FCC plan the day before issuing its letter denouncing the FCC NPRM. A staffer for Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., contacted the CO with the idea of Deutch formally requesting a letter from the office on June 17, according to the emails. On June 28, CO officials watched an NCTA demo of set-top tech arranged by MPAA, and on June 30 met with Sallet and other FCC officials, the emails show. On July 11, CO officials met with House Commerce Committee Vice Chairwoman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Four days later, she joined Reps. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Deutch in asking for a written analysis of the FCC plan. A Senate Finance Committee staffer contacted CO officials about a possible meeting on July 22, the emails show. Staffers for Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., made contact with the CO to set up a meeting on July 27. The CO letter went out Aug. 3. An "agency that listens only to the views of some industry groups without seeking out additional opinions cannot be a reliably neutral expert for Congress or the FCC,” said the EFF. “We hope that the FCC will weigh the Copyright Office’s comments appropriately.”