Copyright Alliance's Candidate Quiz Not Quite As Tough As Bar Exam

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Today's THR reports that the Copyright Alliance (which includes the major studios and record labels) is sending the presidential candidates a five-question quiz in an effort to introduce copyright issues as a hot-botton political issue. Something tells us that neither the candidate who practiced intellectual property at her law firm (Clinton), the one who was president of the Harvard Law Review (Obama), nor the guy who took down mobsters as a big city prosecutor (Giuliani) will need to sweat this simple test. The open-ended queries are in this questionnaire and ask the candidates to address: 

• the principle of copyright,
• the application of copyright law to the digital world,
• enforcement of copyright law,
• use of trade agreements to ensure a level playing field for U.S. industry worldwide, and
• free expression.

Doesn't the Copyright Alliance know that multiple choice is the way to go? We came up with our own quiz question for the candidates:

The Office of the U.S. President can best protect intellectual property by:

(a) suing any developing democracy in the Middle East for patent infringement.
(b) declaring “the war on terror” and “islamofascism” are trademarked phrases that Fox News can no longer use.
(c) using the Mickey Mouse Protection Act to remind the world about the true value of the U.S. dollar.
(d) licensing the remake rights to "Weird Science" to promote stem-cell research.