• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 3, 2009

A coalition including prominent digital rights advocates wrote to President Barack Obama Thursday to express concern about the appointment of former entertainment industry lawyers to key Department of Justice positions.

The groups asked that future appointments to positions related to intellectual property policy "reflect the diversity of stakeholders" affected by such policy. They also requested that the administration "create offices devoted to promoting innovation and free expression within the relevant agencies." The 18 signatories include the American Library Association, Computer and Communications Industry Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge.

Earlier this year, Obama tapped Tom Perrelli, former Recording Industry Association of America attorney, for associate attorney general. Obama also named Donald Verrilli, also a former RIAA attorney, associate deputy attorney general. Verrilli also represented Viacom in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Google.

Recently, the Justice Department intervened on behalf of the record industry in the pending file-sharing lawsuit against Joel Tenenbaum -- a move that the signatories said heightens concerns that the appointees "may be inclined favorably towards the positions of the industries they long represented."

The groups requested that Obama be "mindful of the need to account for unintended structural biases" when making future appointments to positions that have influence over intellectual property policy. "Overzealous expansion and enforcement of copyright ... can quash innovative information technologies, the development and marketing of new and useful devices, and the creation of new works, as well as prohibit the public from accessing and using its cultural heritage," the letter states.