The primary objective of ESA's Anti-Piracy Program is to attack and reduce global entertainment software piracy, estimated to cost the U.S. entertainment software industry billions of dollars every year.
The program's primary components are enforcement, training, including education and enforcement programs in the United States and abroad.

ESA members actively participate in shaping the industry's anti-piracy priorities and ensure that available resources are properly allocated for the enforcement of their intellectual property rights.

ESA's anti-piracy efforts on the Internet, and in United States and select foreign markets are directed towards the active protection of members' game products through online enforcement, criminal raids and prosecutions, and civil litigation.

ESA's training programs help to elevate the protection of interactive game product as a priority for law enforcement officials, as well as enhance their knowledge of the entertainment software industry and its products.

In addition, ESA's intellectual property (IP) education and outreach efforts help to foster respect among members of the general public for the IP rights of game software publishers.

Anti-Piracy Training

In order to better control the manufacture and distribution of pirate and counterfeit game software, the ESA conducts training seminars for enforcement officials around the world. These officials are important allies in the global effort against game piracy.

The cost of this training is entirely underwritten by our members.

The goal of such training is to provide enforcement officials with the skills and knowledge required to identify infringing product, investigate its production and distribution, and pursue enforcement actions and prosecutions against those responsible.

In the past 24 months, the ESA has conducted more than 100 trainings in the United States and Canada with federal law enforcement agencies (such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security), numerous state and local enforcement officials, and Canadian enforcement bodies (such as Canada Customs and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police).

ESA has also been very active in training foreign officials in countries where it operates industry enforcement programs, such as Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, and Malaysia, as well as other countries where ESA members pursue their own enforcement efforts.

The ESA provides free in-depth training manuals, access to the ESA interactive training Web site, and industry contacts for further support and assistance on the identification of suspect software.

If you know of enforcement officials who you believe would be interested in such training, please have them contact the ESA Anti-Piracy Department to make arrangements.

Internet Piracy

The ESA Online Monitoring and Enforcement Program monitors the Internet (Web sites, FTP sites, newsgroups, IRC channels, auction sites, chat rooms, forums, etc.) for instances of piracy of ESA members' products and requests ISPs to take down sites or accounts featuring infringing game product.

Since the program's inception in 1998, the ESA has obtained the takedown of more than 150,000 sites dealing in pirated entertainment software.

The ESA aggressively pursues enforcement against individuals on the Internet who are involved in the illegal online distribution of our members' software, whether through criminal investigation and prosecution or civil litigation.

In addition to providing support to several ongoing investigations of Internet pirate groups, ESA has also pursued civil remedies against individuals that have been identified as engaging in infringing activity via the Internet.

ESA's Anti-Piracy Program Profiled on G4TV's "Pulse" Weekly Video Game Industry News Show

Did You KNOW?

According to the ESA's 2008 Essential Facts, nearly two-thirds of American households play computer and video games.


About the Entertainment Software Association

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the U.S. association exclusively dedicated to serving the business and public affairs needs of companies that publish computer and video games for video game consoles, personal computers, and the Internet.

The ESA offers a range of services to interactive entertainment software publishers including a global anti-piracy program, business and consumer research, government relations and intellectual property protection efforts.
The ESA also owns and operates the E3 Expo.

ESA Members

505 Games
Atari, Inc.
Capcom USA, Inc.
Disney Interactive Studios, Inc.
Eidos Interactive
Electronic Arts
Epic Games, Inc.
Her Interactive, Inc.
Konami Digital Entertainment
Microsoft Corporation
MTV Games
Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Natsume Inc.
Nintendo of America Inc.
SEGA of America, Inc.
Sony Computer Entertainment America
Sony Online Entertainment, Inc.
SouthPeak Interactive Corporation
Square Enix, Inc.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
THQ, Inc.
Ubisoft Entertainment, Inc.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc.


ESA Leadership


Michael (Mike) D. Gallagher
President and CEO

Mike Gallagher has a deep background in technology policy. Mr. Gallagher was the Department of Commerce's Assistant Secretary for Communications & Information, serving as chief telecommunications and Internet policy advisor to the George W. Bush Administration.
During his over four-year tenure at the Department of Commerce, he led successful efforts to pave the way for a number of new technologies and services, such as ultrawideband, broadband over powerlines, advanced wireless services, and millimeter wavelength networks. In addition, Mr. Gallagher developed and successfully advocated the U.S. Government's policies on international Internet governance.

Mr. Gallagher was most recently Communications Practice chair at Perkins Coie, a leading international law firm offering a broad spectrum of legal services. Mr. Gallagher holds degrees in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Entertainment Software Association
575 7th Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20004


Did You KNOW?


The National Education Association serves as a guiding force for teachers on the subject of video games, cataloging on its Web site information that prepares teachers for incorporating video games into the classroom.


Did You KNOW?

According to the ESA's 2008 Essential Facts, 40 percent of all players are women, and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry's fastest growing demographic groups.

05.04.2009