Together with other industry leaders, Business Forward members, Google and Microsoft, have partnered with the White House Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator to put forward new industry best practices combatting online piracy and counterfeiting. Announced yesterday, these coordinated procedures should limit the flow of advertisement money to sites used primarily as piracy and counterfeiting operations. The Administration announced the initiative on its blog, saying:

“The Administration strongly supports voluntary efforts by the private sector to reduce infringement and we welcome the initiative brought forward by the companies to establish industry-wide standards to combat online piracy and counterfeiting by reducing financial incentives associated with infringement. We believe that this is a positive step and that such efforts can have a significant impact on reducing online piracy and counterfeiting.”

Representatives of Google and Microsoft announced the results of the collaborative effort on their respective blogs, highlighting the importance of harmonized action and the need for public-private partnership in this critical area.

There’s always more that can be done by the industry to starve these infringing sites of advertising revenues. Today, working with the White House’s Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and other leading ad networks, we are pleased to participate in a set of voluntary Best Practices and Guidelines for Ad Networks to Address Piracy and Counterfeiting. Under these best practices, Ad Networks will maintain and post policies prohibiting websites that are principally dedicated to selling counterfeit goods or engaging in copyright piracy from participating in the Ad Network’s advertising programs.”

 Susan Molinari, Vice President, Public Policy and Government Relations, Google

“As both a creator of copyrighted works and a provider of online services, including advertising services, Microsoft understands the problems faced by copyright owners subject to massive infringement and the need to ensure that innovation can flourish online. It’s been our experience that a notice-and-takedown mechanism like the one envisioned by these Best Practices can be an effective means to address online infringement. An appropriate notice-and-takedown system – that requires rights holders to identify specific instances of infringement and online services to respond promptly and appropriately to such notices – can address infringement while still respecting critical values such as fair use, privacy, free speech and the freedom to innovate.

Microsoft is pleased to be a part of this collective effort to combat piracy, and to help ensure a healthy advertising ecosystem. We applaud the Administration’s leadership on intellectual property and innovation, as well as the public-private collaboration that made these Best Practices a reality.”

– Fred Humphries, Vice President, U.S. Government Affairs, Microsoft

To read more about the initiative, read the text of the best practices or visit the White House blog.