Wilson Calls White House Policies on Piracy ‘Timid’

Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday criticized as “timid” the Clinton administration’s trade polices aimed at protecting against the piracy of movies, music, TV shows and other intellectual property.

During a meeting with reporters at the annual American Film Market in Santa Monica, Wilson said that because Hollywood is losing billions of dollars to piracy each year, largely to China, aggressive retaliatory trade measures should be taken if the situation doesn’t improve.

Wilson said the government should fight to protect Hollywood’s product from being stolen with the same vigor the government in the 1980s fought the Japanese over the issue of semiconductor dumping.

Wilson said he discovered firsthand how widespread the problem is during a visit to China last month, where he visited government officials in part to “raise some hell about intellectual property rights.”

When walking back to his hotel room, Wilson said, “I was swarmed by guys trying to sell me pirated CD-ROMS.”

Wilson also said the Clinton administration should make amends for U.S. trade representatives’ decision more than three years ago to appease European protectionists and keep the entertainment industry out of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

“It was a terrible mistake and should be revisited,” Wilson said.

Hollywood executives were angered by the administration’s last-minute decision to abandon the entertainment industry on the issue under pressure largely from the French.

On other matters, Wilson expressed confidence that the DreamWorks SKG studio project at Playa Vista would move forward. Wilson has been a vocal backer of the project, which has been delayed by infighting, problems with its developer and financing hurdles.

“This is an ambitious undertaking,” Wilson said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

In a speech to the AFM, a once-a-year gathering in which foreign buyers shop for Hollywood product, Wilson touted the booming growth of the entertainment business.

Last year, he said, film production days in California rose 160%, with Los Angeles County recording 44,000 days of production, up 29% from a year earlier. This past month, he said, production days rose 22%, despite heavy rain.