Ad networks Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL have all signed up to a new set of guidelines aimed at preventing ads that promote piracy or counterfeiting. The Best Practices Guidelines for Ad Network to Address Piracy and Counterfeiting, from the White House’s Office of the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), also have the support of 24/7 Media, Adtegrity, Condé Nast and SpotXchange.
The document calls on the companies to have public policies against sites that sell counterfeit goods or engage in piracy, and to operate ‘notice and takedown’ systems similar to DMCA notices. Ad networks can – but don’t have to – pull ads from infringing websites or remove them from the ad network altogether.
“By working across the industry, these best practices should help reduce the financial incentives for pirate sites by cutting off their revenue supply while maintaining a healthy internet and promoting innovation,” says Susan Molinari, Google’s vice president for public policy and government relations.
There’s been huge pressure on the online advertising industry to clean up its act – and the companies are hoping that the new policy will be enough to satisfy their critics.
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The guidelines fall far short of any sort of guarantee, pointing out that ad networks can’t remove websites from the internet – and can’t be expected to act as police and determine a particular party’s intellectual property rights.
“Accordingly, intellectual property holders are expected to be accurate in demonstrating infringement of their copyrights and trademark rights and to target only infringing conduct,” they read. Affected websites will be able to appeal by filing a counter-notice.
As a result, copyright holders are supportive, but cautious. “The real test will come as these practices are implemented, and whether they have a demonstrable impact. We will be monitoring closely,” says Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is even more dubious: it would have preferred to see the onus placed on the ad networks themselves to detect illicit sites.
“An incremental step forward that addresses only a narrow subset of the problem and places a disproportionate amount of the burden on rights holders is not sufficient,” says chairman Senator Chris Dodd. “Absent meaningful proactive steps by players in every sector – advertisers, ad agencies, ad placement services, online ad exchanges and rights holders – the results will be similarly incremental.”
Source: Forbes
