INTA Digital World: Fox VP seeks to dispel piracy myths
David Fares, senior vice president of government affairs of 21st Century Fox (UK), has said he is trying to dispel some piracy myths in a bid to have a rational debate.
Speaking in a personal capacity at an International Trademark Association conference today, December 2, in Brussels, he explained that piracy will always be a landscape “fraught with hyperbole”.
However, he said that he has attempted to dispel a number of myths, in the hope of making people understand the topic.
One of these myths is that people turn to piracy because content isn’t available online.
21st Century Fox’s portfolio includes Fox News and film studio 20th Century Fox.
The second myth, according to Fares, is that piracy is a victimless crime. He quoted a study of 589 piracy sites by the Digital Citizens Alliance which found that these sites made more than $209 million in advertising alone in 2015.
It also identified many of the advertisements as high-risk, with a third linked to viruses or other malware.
The final myth Fares is attempting to dispel is that copyright is a barrier to innovation.
He explained that Google has previously questioned 300 UK digital small and medium-sized enterprises.
“66% of the businesses said that copyright was about right for them, 22% said it should be stronger and only 7% said it was a barrier. There’s no evidence that copyright is a barrier to innovation,” said Fares.
“If we can get everyone to understand, we might be able to have a more rational debate,” he added.
On licensing, Fares explained that Fox must be flexible in the way it licenses and engages with licensees, challenging some of the legacy film structures it uses.
“There’s a portion of time where our films are not being in theatre [and not available elsewhere] so there isn’t a legitimate way for the consumer to watch,” he said.
According to Fares, this is a “real problem” as people aren’t willing to wait any more and this can drive piracy.
He added that there is no doubt there is cord-cutting (when viewers cancel their subscriptions to multichannel TV services), although he argued that it may be “over-exaggerated”.
INTA’s ‘Digital World Conference: Navigating the Digital Yellow Brick Road’, ends today.
