Digging up dirt on the International Intellectual Property Institute

One of my colleagues in my Copyright Law class today asked me if I knew anything about the International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI). I had no idea.

A quick bit of googling, and I was able to discover quite a bit

From their own website "The International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation located in Washington, DC. As an international development organization and think tank, IIPI is dedicated to increasing awareness and understanding of the use of intellectual property as a tool for economic growth, particularly in developing countries."

They've held seminars in IP Enforcement, as it relates to 'piracy' - and in general, most of the content on their website is very pro-industry. I assume that this is some kind of astro-turf group propped up by the major IP stakes holders.


Enter Guidestar.com.

I was able to pull up their IRS 990 filing from 2004. In that year, from a total budget of 1.1 million dollars, they received $2k short of 3/4 of a million dollars in "government grants".

Call me naive, but why is the US government giving nearly a million dollars in grant money to a totally pro-industry lobby group? Can't the RIAA and MPAA fund these guys out of petty cash?