Members of Congress are often at odds with Tinseltown players over political issues that affect the entertainment industry. The ongoing spat over violence in films, for example, highlights part of the cultural disconnect between Capitol Hill and the Hollywood Hills. But it looks as if the nation’s lawmakers have managed to get two major entertainment factions — studios and celebrities — to make nice to each other so that a key Internet-related bill can make its way onto the statute books.
At issue is what to do about so-called “cybersquatting,” in which digital entrepreneurs register famous-sounding Internet domain names, only to turn around and offer to sell them back — at highly inflated prices — to individuals or companies that share the monikers. Studios such as Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. had been arguing that anti-squatting legislation should be limited to trademarked business names. But celebrities — some of whom have already seen their Internet names appropriated by others — have been saying, “Hey, what about us?”
