Google, Yahoo, and Others Adopt IAB’s Anti-Piracy Best Practices

On July 15, 2013 the White House’s Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, announced new best practices guidelines for ad networks to address online piracy and counterfeiting. The self-regulatory best practices were developed with support from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (“IAB”). “Ad networks and copyright owners must also protect privacy, free speech and fair process in their antipiracy efforts,” Espinel wrote. "We encourage the companies participating to continue to work with all interested stakeholders, including creators, rightholders, and public interest groups, to ensure that their practices are transparent and fully consistent with the democratic values that have helped the Internet to flourish." The voluntary best practices agreement has been adopted by eight of the largest advertising networks, including AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. It is aimed at stopping online piracy by cutting off the flow of revenue to rogue sites that primarily sell counterfeit goods or promote copyright piracy.