Presentation for AAP RPAC Annual Conference

“Overview of AAP Efforts to Combat Digital Piracy”

Ed McCoyd, AAP Executive Director for Digital, Environmental & Accessibility Affairs

May 14, 2010

Attributor Report Jan. 14, 2010• 9 million illegal downloads of copyright-

protected books documented in late 2009.

• Looked online at infringing digital versions of 913 popular titles.

• Average of 10,000 downloads per tracked title.

• Categories included business, professional technical, science, health, fiction, and reference.

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AAP Online Piracy Working Group (OPWG)

• A forum for AAP member publishers to share information about and discuss strategies to combat online piracy of books in digital formats.

• Conducts periodic Internet monitoring to find instances of online trading of electronic files of books and other products without the publisher's authorization.

• Current membership includes more than 25 publishers of various sizes, spanning trade, educational, and professional.

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Covington & Burling Monitoring • April 1, 2008-August 31, 2008.• 15 OPWG member companies.• Internet search for all titles by each publisher,

or a selected list, at the publisher’s option.• ISBN-based products (primarily books and

audio books).• Services billed on the basis of C&B staff hours

spent, and capped at a specified monetary level each month.

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U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 512

• Under certain circumstances, shields Online Service Providers (OSPs) from liability for users’ acts of infringement.

• Requirements include OSP compliance with copyright owners’ demand notices for the blocking or removal of detected infringements.

• OSPs include search engines and providers of server space.

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Overall Results (April-August 2008)

• Number of infringements identified: 15,858• Number of infringements removed: 13,300• Number of titles total: 8,147• Average # of titles per publisher: 582

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www.Truly-Free.org• Website with plain text and Word files of around

2,300 titles (fiction and non-fiction).• Offered all titles in Kindle or Sony-ready format in

one compressed download for 60 Euros.• Refused to comply with publishers’ takedown

notices.• Unknown location (Moscow, Malaysia, and

Venezuela addresses all indicated).• Site down on May 6.

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www.4Shared.com• Hosting site.• Attributor Q4 2009 report lists 4Shared as the

second most popular site for book infringements, accounting for 1/3 of all infringements.

• Does comply with TDNs, but the problem is not abating.

• Location unknown. Suspected to be Russia or Eastern Europe.

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www.Rapidshare.com• “Locker” site.• #1 site for book infringements.• Sued by six U.S. educational publishers in Germany.• On Feb. 10, Hamburg court awarded injunction

prohibiting reappearance of 148 works that were the subject of the action.

• RapidShare responsible for Plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees and court costs.

• CEO terminated last month.

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TextbookTorrents.com

• Portal dedicated to peer-to-peer trading of pirated college textbooks. Several thousand infringements found.

• Run by Mikkel Paulson, a.k.a. “Geekman.”• Moved hosting from U.S., to the Netherlands,

to Canada.• Covington helped pressure the various hosts.• Site shut down its own in the fall of 2008.

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AAP Member Access to the U.K. P.A.’s Copyright Infringement

Portal• AAP-branded “gateway” to the portal on our own website,

enabling our members to use the service at substantially-discounted rates: http://www.aap.copyrightinfringementportal.com/

• Based on publisher’s revenues, annual subscription fees for AAP members range from $395-$2,395 in U.S. dollars.

• Same discounted fees being offered to AAUP members. Other trade associations can also discuss with the P.A.

• Fees to U.S. affiliates of U.K. P.A. members (“X Publisher USA”) are a flat $395 annually.

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AAP-Proposed Best Practices for File-Sharing Sites and Services

• Services primarily used for legal, non-infringing purposes.

• Technical filters to block infringements• Warning notices to infringing users• Termination policies against repeat infringers• Conspicuous policies in brief, plain language• Titles-based reporting to publishers• Opportunities to market legal alternatives.

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Best Practices currently being discussed with:

• Scribd.com• Wattpad.com

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Antipiracy Provisions of the Higher Education Opportunity Act

• Signed into law August 14, 2008.• Reauthorized the Higher Education Act.• Requires colleges and universities to disseminate

information to students regarding the institution’s policies and sanctions related to copyright infringement, including unauthorized peer-to-peer file sharing.

• Provides for grants to institutions for programs, education, and technological solutions to reduce and eliminate the illegal downloading and distribution of intellectual property.

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AAP Materials for EDUCAUSE Site

• List of sources of legally-available digital versions of textbooks and other written works.

• List of copyright-based fields and career paths.

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AAP/Publisher Lobbying Delegations to D.C.

• Meetings with key members of Congress on March 4.

• Meeting with governmental agency representatives at the Commerce Department on April 29.

• Lui Simpson, Allan Adler, and Tom Allen in regular contact with policy makers regarding copyright protection.

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Ed McCoyd, Esq.Executive Director for Digital,

Environmental & Accessibility AffairsAssociation of American Publishers

(212) 255-0200 ext. 264Emccoyd@publishers.org

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