The government has a role in content distribution and it is to protect copyright, according to Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross.

Ross spoke as part of a panel on "The Changing Nature of Content: the Challenge of Making Policy for Dynamic Technologies," at eBay headquarters Monday during Innovation '08. He stressed that the government should limit its role in controlling distribution.

"The right question to ask is, 'How can government help ensure that more legitimate content will reach more consumers through legitimate distribution channels,'" he said. "And part of the answer to that question is certainly that government should enforce the rights of copyright owners. They have every incentive to have their works distributed, and they will work with distributors to ensure that happens, legally, just as they are now."

The Copyright Alliance, a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization, recently outlined its public policy philosophy. The organization said it aims to strengthen "America's ideas-based economy," encourage innovation, and protecting the nation's competitiveness by upholding copyright law, applying traditional copyright principles to the digital marketplace, enforcing copyright law domestically and internationally, including copyright protections in trade agreements, and protecting creators' rights to free expression.

"The U.S. economy today is driven by ideas, whether they be born of research, technological innovation or the stroke of a pen or strum of a guitar," Ross said. "This ideas economy is the backbone of job creation, growth and surplus trade. The copyright industries employ more than 11 million Americans and we want to call attention to the voices of these creators and the principles important to them." The Copyright Alliance represents groups in the entertainment, movie, music, publishing, legal, media, broadcast, and software industries, among others.

Innovation '08 is part of a larger effort, backed by the Media Access Project, to bring technology leaders and public policy experts together to outline recommendations for the next U.S. president.