MUMBAI: Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) president and COO Bob Pisano addressed delegates attending the Asian Intellectual Property Symposium in Tokyo about the serious consequences of illegal file sharing on the internet.

The symposium was hosted by the Anti Counterfeiting Association (ACA) and Nikkei Inc. with support from the National Police Agency, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Ministry of Finance Japan, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry.

Speaking to a local audience of government officials, policy makers, distributors and industry representatives at Nikkei Hall, Pisano commended Japan for its first-mover advantage in technology and urged the Japanese authorities to take the lead in the area of legislation on Internet piracy as well.

In his speech, Pisano urged Japanese internet service providers to consider the graduated response scheme adopted by some countries that give illegal downloaders an educational notice before sanctions are imposed on repeat infringers.

"Graduated response is a common sense approach to online piracy that in the long term protects creative ideas and supports the economic growth of a number of industries. It takes into account the responsibilities of ISPs and Internet users. It’s fair. It’s reasonable," said Pisano.

He called on Japanese ISPs to acknowledge their part in overseeing the legality of content that passed through their networks.

"Why should ISPs take part in this program? The answer is that it makes good sense for them. This is not about requiring ISPs to police the internet at all. It’s about their responding to a high standard of evidence of infringement and illegal activity on their networks supplied by rights holders," said Pisano.

In Japan, lawmakers have amended Article 30 of the Copyright Law to make it illegal to download music or movies distributed on the Internet without the authorization of right holders earlier this year.