Report: ESA Spent $980K Lobbying In Q2

The Entertainment Software Association spent $980,000 in the second quarter of 2008 lobbying the U.S. government, according to a July federal filing reported by the Associated Press. The trade group, which has recently seen some high-profile departures, most notably Activision Vivendi, lobbied on legislation involving First Amendment protections, anti-piracy, free trade, internet governance, immigration of highly skilled workers, and copyright enforcement. Previously, the ESA spent over $714,000 in the first quarter of 2008 to lobby the federal government on similar issues. Historically, the association spent $2.86 million on federal lobbying in calendar 2007, $2.3 million on federal lobbying in 2006, and just over $2 million in 2005 -- with 2008's total on target to surpass all of these. To strengthen its anti-piracy and copyright enforcement efforts, the ESA recently appointed former Recording Industry Association of America executive Kenneth Doroshow as its new general counsel. Doroshow also previously served senior counsel to the United States Department of Justice. In addition to lobbying Congress during the April-to-June period, the group lobbied the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Copyright Office, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Council and other agencies.