About

Paul Doda’s involvement in the digital copyright infringement debate reached its pinnacle with his participation in a US Congressional hearing. ‘Paul is becoming an industry leader,’ says Dentons’ Marc Friedman. ‘Many publishers throughout the world now look to Paul for his leadership and ideas. He is becoming a force’. Allen Maines of Holland & Knight LLP concurs. ‘Paul Doda has taken a leadership role not only on behalf of his company, but for the industry as a whole’. Doda is widely praised for his measured stance on the issues, seen by many as a key to the effectiveness of his advocacy. ‘By avoiding a sledgehammer approach, he has garnered credibility and the trust of publishers and other content owners and the respect of those who hold opposing views,’ one industry contact argues. Doda himself says: ‘We are trying to work through deeply felt polarization on certain issues’. Chairman of the Online Piracy Working Group for the Association of American Publishers, he is, in fact, a relative newcomer to the industry and quick to point out its challenges. ‘The work in this area can be daunting based on the sheer magnitude and complexities of the online piracy problem’. Before Doda’s arrival in 2007, Elsevier had no specialist capabilities for dealing with disputes. Doda spurred on a global approach, spearheading efforts to collaborate with publishers and trade groups worldwide, sharing information and resources, to enable simultaneous action across multiple jurisdictions. ‘Most of the dedicated “bad actors” in this arena – e.g. pure pirate sites and counterfeiters – are common to the international community,’ Doda explains. ‘Joining together internationally to address them makes sense, but coordination can be a challenge’. Amongst other things, Doda also implemented a ‘“metrics”’ system to evaluate the outcomes of disputes, and with it ‘“return on investment”’. ‘Paul approaches litigation as a business tool rather than a ‘cost center’,’ one private practice lawyer says. ‘The result is that, within Elsevier, Paul’s team is viewed as a profit center’.