Petzl America issued a statement last week saying it does not support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA; H.R. 3261) after it was targeted for a boycott along with more than a dozen other sporting goods companies by opponents of the bill.
Petzl said it felt compelled to disclose its position on SOPA Dec. 21 after it erroneously appeared on a list of companies supporting the legislation that was later circulated by a group organizing a boycott of the bill’s sponsors. While Petzl did not say what list it was referring to, Outdoor Industry Association reported last week that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had erroneously listed companies who had signed a letter of support for legislation against rogue websites as supporting SOPA when none have yet endorsed any specific bill.
In a February, 2011 e-mail to OIA, for instance, Petzl America President Roody Rasmussen thanked OIA for “encouraging stronger legislation against pirates of intellectual property, production of counterfeited products, and the rogue web sites that support this piracy.” The threat of counterfeit goods came to Petzl’s attention early last year when it discovered rogue web sites were selling counterfeits of it safety climbing gear that would fail at loads below safety standards, according to that e-mail.
When checked Friday, the U.S Chamber of Commerce’s fightonlinetheft.com web site no longer listed Petzl as a supporter of “legislation to shut down rogue sites.” It did, however, list adidas America, Burton Snowboards, Callaway Golf Company, Canada Goose, Cascade Designs Inc., Columbia Sportswear, Ex Officio, Exxel Outdoors, Far Bank Enterprises, Leatherman Tool Group, and New Era Cap. Co, Nike, Oakley Inc., Outdoor Research Inc., PING, Red Wing Shoe Co., Reebok International Ltd., Under Armour, VF Corp. and Vibram USA Inc. as supporting legislation. All those companies’ names appear on a list published by Boycott SOPA Sponsors, which is collecting signatures online from people pledging to boycott the bill’s sponsors.
While the grassroots boycott may fizzle, it was only a small part of what OIA called “an aggressive phone, email, and social media campaign” that targets companies and organizations they believe support the bill. The backlash against the legislation includes charges that it will limit freedom of speech and squelch innovation on the Internet.
Last week, Petzl America reiterated that it is “strongly against counterfeiting, especially, as in the case of counterfeited Petzl products, where the safety of the end user is concerned. By extension, we are for legislation that would help reduce the theft of intellectual property, production of counterfeit goods, and knowing sale of counterfeit goods. However, we believe that SOPA and Protect IP do not address these concerns in a constructive manner.”
