Dodd licking his wounds after Web piracy defeat On Internet piracy: Fails to get laws to protect film industry

Actor George Clooney, former Sen. Christopher Dodd, actress Shailene Woodley and Fox's Jim Gianopulos arrive to the premiere of Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants" at AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theater on November 15, 2011 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images) less Actor George Clooney, former Sen. Christopher Dodd, actress Shailene Woodley and Fox's Jim Gianopulos arrive to the premiere of Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants" at AMPAS Samuel Goldwyn Theater on November ... more Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez, Getty Images Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez, Getty Images Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Dodd licking his wounds after Web piracy defeat 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

WASHINGTON -- Former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd is having a tough first year as chief of Hollywood's powerhouse lobbying organization.

Dodd, who marks his first anniversary in March as chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, is struggling to recover from a stinging defeat he suffered earlier this month at the hands of Internet companies, the Obama administration and Congress in his signature campaign for new laws to thwart online piracy of U.S. movies and other intellectual property.

He then provoked an uproar by threatening retribution against lawmakers who opposed anti-piracy bills. No more Hollywood campaign contributions for them, he warned. Critics pounced and accused him of bribery, demanding an investigation from the Obama administration.

At the heart of all of this were two pieces of legislation, pushed by the MPAA, that would allow the federal government to shut down websites that sell pirated goods or violate copyrights. Both bills had bipartisan support and an eventual House-Senate compromise appeared likely.

But all of that swiftly evaporated when critics of the bills, contending the legislation would stifle innovation and free speech on the Internet, rallied opposition and triggered a flash fire of emails, telephone calls and letters inundating Washington offices.

Suddenly, second thoughts popped up inside the Beltway. The White House issued a statement criticizing the legislation. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced they were canceling plans to move ahead with the legislation. Both lawmakers agreed that Internet piracy should be dealt with, but maybe not right now and not with those two bills.

It was a huge setback for the new MPAA boss, who now seems to be trying to figure out what hit him. At the Sundance Film Festival last week in Utah, Dodd said the Internet outcry against the bills was "a watershed event." He said the ability of opponents of the bills "to organize and communicate directly with consumers" was unprecedented and created "hysteria" that somehow the bills would destroy the Internet. "We've got to find a better way" to figure out how to deal with online piracy, he declared.

`DON'T ASK' FOR CHECKS

Shortly after assuming the MPAA post at a reported annual base salary of $1.5 million, Dodd declared that the "single biggest threat we face as an industry is movie theft." In remarks to the National Association of Theatre Owners -- another Hollywood trade association -- Dodd made fighting online piracy his major goal and vowed to push for stronger laws to protect film and other intellectual property from unauthorized use. He compared free downloading of films to "looting."

"After three decades in Congress, I have some idea how to attract the attention of a congressman or senator," he said back then. Dodd, 67, the son of a former senator, served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years until he decided not to seek a fifth term. He had previously been elected to three terms in the House from the state's 2nd Congressional District.

Indeed, it was his Washington insider resume that made Dodd an attractive candidate for the MPAA job in the first place. After the trade group hired him, Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman Jim Gianopulos triumphantly declared: "Senator Dodd is a battle-tested leader whose reputation as a strong leader on major issues facing this country has prepared him to serve as the ambassador for the movie business."

Earlier this month, after the White House and congressional leaders backed away from the pending MPAA-backed anti-piracy bills, Dodd revealed more details about his idea of attracting the attention of a congressman or a senator.

Irked by the setback, Dodd told Fox News that the movie industry "is watching very carefully who's going to stand up for them when their job is at stake," adding ominously: "Don't ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don't pay any attention to me when my job is at stake."

Foes of the anti-piracy legislation seized on those comments to ask the White House to investigate whether the former senator had violated any laws. Using an Obama administration outreach device titled "We the People," a petition quickly met the White House threshold of 25,000 signatures within 30 days, obliging the administration to respond.

The petition charges that Dodd's comments "are an open admission of bribery and a threat designed to provide a specific policy goal. This is a brazen flouting of the `above the law' status of people of Dodd's position and wealth enjoy."

The petition asks the administration to "investigate this blatant bribery and indict every person, especially government officials and lawmakers, who is involved."

The White House response to the petition, expected next month, could determine Dodd's future effectiveness as the film industry's spokesman.

One critic of the anti-piracy bills, Craig Aaron of the Free Press Action Fund, declared, "The MPAA is so brazen in its efforts to buy legislation with campaign cash that its leader, himself a former senator, sees nothing wrong with threatening legislators on national TV. We think it's time that Congress showed that its votes are no longer for sale." Aaron demanded that members of Congress return "the MPAA's tainted campaign cash or give it to charity."

Dodd declined to be interviewed about the uproar triggered by his Fox News interview. His spokesman, Howard Gantman, issued a statement that read: "Senator Dodd was merely making the obvious point that people support politicians whose views coincide with their own. When politicians take positions that people disagree with, those people tend not to support those politicians."

Gianopulos, the Fox executive who boasted last year about Dodd's glittering Beltway credentials, also did not respond to a request for comment about the interview.

LOTS OF LOBBYING

The MPAA is no novice when it comes to influencing the federal government. The industry group spent $1.29 million on lobbying in Washington during the first three quarters of 2011, and its political action committee made $41,000 in campaign contributions during the same period, according to public records analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics.

In fact, the anti-piracy controversy appears to have fueled an explosion in Beltway lobbying. Companies on both sides of the controversy spent at least $104.6 million on lobbying in the fourth quarter, up from $49.3 million in the third quarter, according to CRP, though these companies had many issues pending in Washington and it isn't possible to specify how much lobbying was devoted to the anti-piracy controversy.

Dodd is not a registered lobbyist, according to the most recent public records. In fact, he is barred by Senate revolving-door rules from lobbying his former colleagues for two years after leaving the Senate. He is not prohibited from lobbying the House or the executive branch.

Meanwhile, both sides in the piracy controversy are looking ahead to the next chapter. Dodd and the film industry face formidable opposition from the tech industry, which is no slouch in mustering its own political and financial heft to get the attention of lawmakers. Corporate foes of the two bills include Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and Mozilla. Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, hinted that MPAA should bid Dodd farewell because of his comments to Fox News. MPAA's heavyweight allies included the Hollywood studios, the Recording Industry Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Some kind of compromise may emerge later this year, after a cooling-off recess, though the unprecedented public intervention into the debate makes it unlikely that it will come from a closed-door meeting of lawmakers on different sides of the issue.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Dodd's successor in the Senate, voted in committee for the Senate version of the anti-piracy bill, but he has said that any final legislation should reflect a balance between the need to crackdown on piracy while protecting "American creativity and innovation."

While Dodd and the MPAA lick their wounds and ponder their next move, they can take comfort in the fact that many critics of the two bills say they agree with Dodd's goal of stopping movie theft. As an example of the scope of the problem, Dodd has said, the movie "Avatar" was stolen by online pirates 21 million times.

Gantman, speaking for Dodd, said the debate "has made one very significant step toward a solution: The online community now agrees there is a problem. We're open to speak with all parties who are interested in a real solution to a problem that poses a serious threat to the 19 million American workers whose jobs depend on intellectual property."