Official list of SOPA supporters

Written by Tom Cheredar
Venturebeat.com | December 22, 2011

The U.S. House judiciary committee responsible for the Stop Online Piracy Act (or SOPA) has released a list of companies (PDF) that have publicly expressed their support for the legislation.

SOPA gives both the U.S. government and copyright holders the authority to seek court orders against websites associated with infringing, pirating and/or counterfeiting intellectual property. The implication of having the bill pass is that it could drastically change the way the Internet operates. For example, if a website is accused of containing copyright-infringing content (such as a song, picture or video clip), the site could be blocked by ISPs, de-indexed from search engines and even prevented from doing business with companies like PayPal.

Rather than uphold the potential law fairly, many expect media companies to file court orders against any piece of content that gets in the way of their own licensed properties — thus giving them an advantage over anyone that isn’t a huge business with a legal department. As we previously noted, SOPA is likely to have a negative effect on business and innovation if it’s signed into law.

However, as the judiciary committee’s list shows, 142 companies and organizations publicly support the act. The list is dominated by music labels, book publishers, television networks and movie studios. And since the majority of funding for SOPA support is coming from media and publishing companies, this isn’t very surprising.

One thing I found interesting about the list was the number of pro-SOPA companies based in my native city of Nashville, Tenn. (a.k.a. “Music City”). Of the 20 businesses I identified, most of them were affiliated with country music, Christian music or religious book (bibles) publishing companies. It’s worth noting that earlier this year lobbyist groups based in Nashville helped urge lawmakers to pass a new state law making it illegal to share your streaming music or video subscription account, punishable with jail time and thousands of dollars in fines.

The list of SOPA supporters also includes Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment, which is responsible for producing comic book/film super-hero properties like Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man and several others (I have to wonder if this development turns Marvel’s classic do-gooders into unintentional super-villains). The list also includes some companies that have little to do with digital copyright licensing and piracy. Makeup and accessory companies like Estée Lauder, L’Oreal and Revlon are all included on the list, as well as pharmaceutical company Pfizer and jewelry company Tiffany & Co.

Online communities, such as Reddit, are taking advantage of the judicial committee’s official list of SOPA supporters by encouraging people to contact each company to voice their disapproval.This is the list of supporters...

Supporters...

• 60 Plus Association
• ABC
• Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
• American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
• American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
• American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
• Americans for Tax Reform
• Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States
• Association of American Publishers (AAP)
• Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
• Association of Talent Agents (ATA)
• Baker & Hostetler LLP
• Beachbody, LLC
• BMI
• BMG Chrysalis
• Building and Construction Trades Department
• Capitol Records Nashville
• CBS
• Cengage Learning
• Christian Music Trade Association
• Church Music Publishers’ Association
• Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
• Comcast/NBCUniversal
• Concerned Women for America (CWA)
• Congressional Fire Services Institute
• Copyhype
• Copyright Alliance
• Coty, Inc.
• Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
• Council of State Governments
• Country Music Association
• Country Music Television
• Covington & Burling LLP
• Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP
• Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, P.C.
• Creative America
• Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
• Deluxe2
• Directors Guild of America (DGA)
• Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
• Elsevier
• EMI Christian Music Group
• EMI Music Publishing
• ESPN
• Estée Lauder Companies
• Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
• Go Daddy
• Gospel Music Association
• Graphic Artists Guild
• Hachette Book Group
• HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Inc.
• Hyperion
• Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
• International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE)
• International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
• International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
• International Trademark Association (INTA)
• International Union of Police Associations
• Irell & Manella LLP
• Jenner & Block LLP
• Kelley Drye & Warren LLP
• Kendall Brill & Klieger LLP
• Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP
• L’Oreal
• Lathrop & Gage LLP
• Loeb & Loeb LLP
• Lost Highway Records
• Macmillan
• Major County Sheriffs
• Major League Baseball
• Majority City Chiefs
• Marvel Entertainment, LLC
• MasterCard Worldwide
• MCA Records
• McGraw-Hill Education
• Mercury Nashville
• Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
• Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
• Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP
• Morrison & Foerster LLP
• Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
• Moving Picture Technicians3
• MPA – The Association of Magazine Media
• National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
• National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
• National Association of State Chief Information Officers
• National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
• National Center for Victims of Crime
• National Crime Justice Association
• National District Attorneys Association
• National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
• National Football League
• National Governors Association, Economic Development and Commerce Committee
• National League of Cities
• National Narcotics Offers’ Associations’ Coalition
• National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA)
• National Songwriters Association
• National Troopers Coalition
• News Corporation
• Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
• Pearson Education
• Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
• Phillips Nizer, LLP
• Pfizer, Inc.
• Proskauer Rose LLP
• Provident Music Group
• Random House
• Raulet Property Partners
• Republic Nashville
• Revlon
• Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP
• Scholastic, Inc.
• Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
• Shearman & Sterling LLP
• Showdog Universal Music
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
• Sony/ATV Music Publishing
• Sony Music Entertainment
• Sony Music Nashville
• State International Development Organization (SIDO)
• The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
• The Perseus Books Groups
• The United States Conference of Mayors
• Tiffany & Co.
• Time Warner4
• Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
• UMG Publishing Group Nashville
• United States Chamber of Commerce
• United States Tennis Association
• Universal Music
• Universal Music Publishing Group
• Viacom
• Visa, Inc.
• W.W. Norton & Company
• Warner Music Group
• Warner Music Nashville
• White & Case LLP
• Wolters Kluewer Health
• Word Entertainment