Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), on Thursday said music copyright protection was “under the most severe stress in making the transition from the physical world to the digital world” and the problem will likely spread to films as web connections speed up. However, the heavy punishment of illegal file sharers on the web will be counter-productive in the global fight against Internet piracy and copyright infringement.
“So, we need to reflect on the fundamentally important question of how we are to finance culture in the future — the future evolution of the copyright system, is of course central to this debate.”
Among other things, Mr. Gurry is in India to discuss making copyright-protected material available to the visually impaired and wrote an op-ed for The Hindu noting that a recent study estimated that the Indian entertainment industry loses some 820,000 jobs and around $4 billion each year to piracy.