BoxOffice® Pro - November 2011

HILL CLIMBING
(The Capitol, that is)
LAW & ORDER
GARY
KLEIN
NATO
Vice President
and General
Counsel
As noted in John Fithian’s column, one of the most
important components of the recently concluded
annual meeting of NATO was the opportunity
to trek up to the Hill and attend meetings with Senators,
House members and their staffs. Indeed, it was this
potential that inspired the Executive Board to alter its
meeting location for 2011 from Los Angeles to Washington,
DC. Noting that 2012 was an election year in which
members of Congress routinely leave town early in
October to return to their respective states to campaign,
the Board decided to keep the 2011 meeting in Washington,
and the
decision paid off
in several ways. SENATORS
First, thanks to the Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Herculean efforts
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
of Todd Halstead,
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
NATO’s Deputy
Director of Government
Affairs,
Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
approximately 50 Mark Kirk (R-IL)
visits to individual
members
Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
John Kerry (D-MA)
of Congress were
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
scheduled (including
one with Jon Tester (D-MT)
Senator Durbin,
Richard Burr (R-NC)
the Majority Whip, Kay Hagan (D-NC)
in his office in the Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Capitol building).
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
And fortuitously,
John Thune (R-SD)
legislation that
would help reduce Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
movie theft and
Bob Corker (R-TN)
illegal streaming, Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX)
issues which are
John Cornyn (R-TX)
of considerable
Patty Murray (D-WA)
importance to
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
NATO’s members,
was awaiting a
debate and ultimately
a vote on
the Senate floor. In the House, similar legislation was
in the process of being drafted, and getting co-sponsors
was a priority.
So with those goals in mind, the call went out to
NATO members attending the annual meeting to see
who would be interested in taking part in “Capitol Hill
Day” to advocate on behalf of the association. And in
response, some 28 attendees signed up representing
15 states. They arrived in Washington a day early for a
briefing session where they learned the “do’s and don’ts”
of lobbying as well as the key provisions of the legislation.
Accompanied by NATO staff, the group broke up
into teams to meet with their respective Senators and
Representatives. Among those with whom they met are
listed in the table below.
In asking the members of Congress to support the
legislation, the key elements were highlighted. In the
Senate, S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic
Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PRO-
TECT IP Act ) would allow the Attorney General to seek
an injunction from a federal court against a domain
name used by a foreign website that promotes infringement
of intellectual property or the sale of counterfeit
goods. The Court
order could then
HOUSE MEMBERS
be served on U.S.
Spencer T. Bachus III (R-AL-6)
based domain
name servers, internet
advertisers,
Robert Aderholt (R-AL-4)
Wally Herger (R-CA-2)
search engines and
John Garamendi (R-CA-10)
payment processors
which would
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-21)
Dennis Ross (R-FL-12)
then be required to
Lynn A. Westmoreland (R-GA-3) block access to the
website or suspend
Paul C. Broun (R-GA-10)
services to the site.
Danny K. Davis (D-IL-7)
S. 978, the Commercial
Felony Stream-
Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA)
Richard E. Neal (D-MA)
ing Act, makes
Justin Amash (R-MI-3)
unauthorized web
Bill Huizenga (R-MI-2)
streaming of copyrighted
content
Dave Camp (R-MI-4)
a felony with a
Sue Wilkins Myrick (R-NC-9)
possible penalty of
Frank C. Guinta (R-NH-1)
up to five years in
Kristi L. Noem (R-SD-At Large) prison. Basically,
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7)
it equates illegal
Steve Cohen (D-TN-9)
streaming—which
up to now is only
John J. Duncan Jr. (R-TN-2)
considered a misdemeanor—with
Louie Gohmert (R-TX-1)
Pete Sessions (R-TX-32)
illegal downloading,
which has
been a felony for
years. On the House side, members were urged to support
the legislation once it was introduced. And the positive
response from all the meetings was overwhelming.
But the job is not finished, and we will be urging those
who took part in the visits to follow up with letters and
calls as the legislative process grinds slowly onward. And
we urge those of you who were not able to attend to write
to your respective members of Congress with the same
message. NATO is your association and we are here to
help with that effort. So let’s complete the hike to the top
of the Hill, and think about joining the next effort when
the annual meeting returns to Washington, DC in 2013.
14 BOXOFFICE PRO NOVEMBER 2011