The Digital Media Assn. has reached into the domain of the entertainment industry — the House Judiciary Committee — tapping Greg Barnes as its new legislative counsel and director of government affairs. Barnes was senior counsel to House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich.
The music industry, as copyright holders, has traditionally had strong influence with Senate and House Judiciary Committee members. The technology industry has been seen as more influential with Commerce Committee members. Now DiMA may be ensuring itself a strong foot in the inner door of the Judiciary Committee, so to speak.
Barnes will join DiMA on Feb. 1 following six years as a member of Conyers’ staff, where he was involved in several areas including patents, copyrights, counterfeiting and other forms of piracy, and identity theft.
Prior to his tenure working with the committee, he served as deputy chief of staff to then-Governor Bob Holden of Missouri.
“Greg’s legislative and political experience and will make him an important addition to DiMA’s staff, and we are fortunate that he is joining our team,” says Jonathan Potter, executive director of DiMA. “We look forward to having Greg on board as we continue to help digital media companies achieve a regulatory and business environment that supports industry growth, creative and technological innovation and greater consumer enjoyment of digital content.”
“Digital media offers exciting options for music and video creativity and enjoyment, and interesting challenges for our government leaders,” Barnes says. “I’m looking forward to becoming the newest member of the DiMA team as the industry seeks to help Congress answer the very complex and technical
issues that lie ahead.”
Barnes graduated from Morehouse College. He earned his J.D. at Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Public Policy (focusing on science and technology policy) at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
