Rogues Gallery-Jason Berman

Jason Berman

On September 11, while the United States was under attack from terrorists, The IFPI (the International RIAA) attacked while we watching other events. Jay Berman of the IFPI, Hilary Rosen's mentor and friend, announced the the formation of a new international program to license webcasting of broadcast signals. The press release stated that the IFPI has signed agreements with numerous "countries", which in fact are not countries but the IFPI members in those countries. The organizations may or may not be the authorized agent for licensing in those countries, and may or may not be authorized to collect royalties for those countries.

This is a blatant attempt on the part of Jay Berman and the IFPI to extend US Copyright law to other countries without due process in those countries. Of course they are familiar with operating without due process, by making campaign contributions to politicians, offering high paying jobs to those who make "technical adjustments" to the law, (remember Mitch Glazier who wrote the "technical adjustment" that made all music work for hire? and placed it in a 1400 page document that had nothing to do with music?)

The following IFPI members have signed the reciprocal agreements: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovak Republic, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.

Mr. Jason Berman is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Since 1999 he has guided IFPI on key international priorities including the integration of Latin America into the IFPI structure, the Copyright Directive in the European Union, the ratification of the WIPO Copyright treaty, the final build out of the worldwide anti-piracy enforcement effort, and the implementation of the internet anti-piracy program.

Mr. Berman has been involved in the music industry for over 25 years, starting in the early 1970s as a United States Senate aide, working on the Copyright Act of 1976. From there, he went to Warner Communications, representing all of the Warner labels on the Board of the Recording Industry Association of America. He was later appointed President and Chief Executive of RIAA and moved the organization from New York to Washington, D.C. In 1992, he was elected Chairman.

In 1996, he was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy. He also served as a member of the US Trade Representatives’ Service Policy Advisory Committee and, in 1997, Mr. Berman took a three-month leave of absence from the RIAA to serve as special counselor for trade to President Clinton.