Copyright Professors Back Striking Writers
Press contact:
James O’Neill 212-854-1584 Cell: 646-596-2935
November 13, 2007 (NEW YORK) – A U.S.-based authors’ rights group composed of copyright professors and others has issued a statement of support for the 12,000 movie and television writers who went on strike last week against Hollywood producers represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Writers represented by the Writers Guild of America East and the Writers Guild of America West began their strike Nov. 5, the first in more than 19 years, over how they will get paid for their work when it appears in new media.
The Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale-USA, based at Columbia Law School, issued the following statement:
``Resolved, that in keeping with the principles of ALAI to promote authors rights worldwide, ALAI-USA supports the members of the Writers Guild of America - East and the Writers Guild of America - West in their efforts to realize fair income for writers and creators on the Internet, in new media and the entertainment industry in general.’’
Jane Ginsburg, president of ALAI-USA and Columbia Law School’s Morton L. Janklow Professor of Literary and Artistic Property Law, is available to comment on the strike. She can be reached at 212-854-3325 or [email protected].
Philippa Loengard, assistant director of Columbia Law School’s Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts, is also available to speak to the media. She can be reached at 212-854-9869 [email protected]
ALAI, based in Paris, promotes and defends authors’ rights. Organized in 1878 at the initiative of the French Society of Authors, with Victor Hugo as Honorary President, ALAI pushed for an international convention to protect literary and artistic property. In 1886, the Berne Convention came into being. Since then, ALAI has participated in all efforts to revise the Convention. Today, there are more than 25 countries with chapters. Each nation’s chapter advocates in its home country for authors’ rights.
ALAI-USA, the U.S. branch of ALAI, was started in the 1980s. Its members include copyright professors, attorneys, composers, writers, fine artists, playwrights, screenwriters, photographers and those who subscribe to the organization’s aims and are interested in aiding its efforts.
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law.