CMPDA rebrands to Motion Picture Association - Canada (MPAC)

A vigilant reader has pointed out that I missed another major name change in my post yesterday about CRIA’s change to MUSIC CANADA.

The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association (CMPDA) has changed its name, effective May 31, 2011, to Motion Picture Association - Canada. 

CMPDA has long been a powerful force in Canadian copyright policy. It was successful in convincing the Federal government to enact stronger anti-camcording legislation.

At its redesigned website, the Motion Picture Association - Canada describes itself as follows:

The Motion Picture Association – Canada serves as the voice and advocate of the major international producers and distributors of movies, home entertainment and television programming in Canada. The motion picture studios served by the Motion Picture Association – Canada are:

    Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
    Paramount Pictures Corporation
    Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
    Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
    Universal City Studios LLLP
    Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

(Emphasis added)

To its credit, The Motion Picture Association – Canada is not seeking to convey the impression that its mission is to protect the interests of Canadian producers and distributors. In fact, its new website states that it is “The Voice and Advocate for the Major International Producers and Distributors of Movies, Home Entertainment and TV Programming in Canada”.

A short article dated May 31, 2011 about this name change states that:

This should clear everything up: The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, which has long lobbied north of the border on behalf of the major Hollywood studios, has changed its name to Motion Picture Association - Canada (MPAC).

The rebranding aligns the association more closely with its parent, the Motion Pictures Association of America.

As this article indicates, the acronym of the Motion Picture Association - Canada is MPAC. This acronym may also be familiar to Ontario real property owners who believe that their municipal tax assessment is too high and who have had the pleasure of appealing to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC), the URL of which is www.mpac.ca.

The URL for the Motion Picture Association - Canada (MPAC) is www.mpa-canada.org.

HK