Well, that didn’t take long. Scant days after assuming his position as Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke is already kissing the ass of the entertainment industry.

From IP Watch, referring to a Washington, D.C. industry meeting:

The Obama administration will fight for the movie industry and work to aggressively enforce its intellectual property protections both at home and abroad, United States Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said here Tuesday.

Locke offered almost unabashed support for the industry, which, according to a report released Tuesday [pdf] by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), created 2.5 million American jobs in 2007, paid an average production worker US$74,700 a year in salary, paid out $41.1 billion in salaries to American workers, paid $13 billion in income and sales tax and was responsible for $13.6 billion in trade surplus.

Those participating in an MPAA event here stressed that because the movie industry gives back to the economy and movies are such a large American export, it is vital – now more than ever in this tumultuous economic climate – that its intellectual property be protected here and overseas.

“I see yours as an industry worth fighting for,” said Locke, adding that 95 percent of the world’s consumers live outside of the United States, and there’s a strong international market for that product. “It’s my priority to continue that growth.”

Look, I’ve been working on behalf of IP owners in China for ten years. Some of my best clients are entertainment companies with real problems in China that have occurred through no fault of their own. It’s a great industry whose copyrights and trademarks are certainly worth fighting for.

I’ve also been quick to point out the shortcomings in the enforcement system here, where China’s IP laws fall short and what the government is, and is not, doing to remedy the situation.

Therefore I am definitely not biased in any way against the entertainment industry when it comes to IP protection. That being said, however, I do hold a long-standing grudge against them for having an undue political influence over the U.S. government through aggressive lobbying. This has resulted in changes to U.S. copyright law and a prioritization of entertainment industry IP issues when it comes to international relations.

I have grown weary over the years trying to explain to clients that just because you can get a DVD on the street corner here for a buck, that doesn’t mean that you (the client) should not invest in China and rely on your registered trademark or patent, or your copyright.

I have grown tired of attending meetings with U.S. government officials where entertainment lobbyists throw out questionable numbers representing their economic losses in China as a result of IP infringement.

I don’t read everything related to the U.S. government and IP. But since Obama has taken office, I have seen two stories: a) an article I commented on recently that reports on Obama’s many Justice Department hires that hail from the entertainment industry; and b) this article from IP Watch.

What does this suggest? Well, it seems that if anything, the entertainment industry may have even more influence with the Obama administration than was the case with the Bushies, if that is possible. This may be harmless, but if it means that certain issues are pushed in bilateral IP negotiations with China to the detriment of other important matters, or if copyright-heavy WTO disputes are put forward (as happened last year) that sour bilateral relations, that would be a real shame.

UPDATE — Industry also makes Joe Biden its bitch:

That meeting organized by the motion picture industry that was attended by Gary Locke? Seems like the Obama administration made sure that there was no confusion about the lengths it was willing to go to suck up to industry.

Vice President Joe Biden lauded Hollywood at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday evening, assailed movie piracy, and promised film executives that the Obama administration would pick “the right person” as its copyright czar.

Just days after four Pirate Bay defendants were found guilty in Sweden, Biden warned of the harms of piracy at a private event organized by the Motion Picture Association of America in the sumptuous, newly renovated Great Hall of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

“It’s pure theft, stolen from the artists and quite frankly from the American people as consequence of loss of jobs and as a consequence of loss of income,” Biden said, according to a White House pool report.

Biden blasted China, saying its intellectual property laws remain “largely ineffective” and will end up “strangling their own creative juices,” and compared it to what he described as India’s more effective anti-piracy regime. (CNET — good background in this article, worth a read)

Thanks a lot there, Joe. China’s IP laws are “largely ineffective”??? Nice way to keep that myth going.

{sigh}