The Motion Picture Association of America has encouraged academics to take researches into the copyright challenges the content industry faces in the digital age. They offer the researchers a $20,000 grant for projects addressing piracy related topics, for example, the impact of copyright legislation and the effectiveness of takedown notices.

Back in 2013, European researchers found out that the MegaUpload closure had a negative effect on the box office revenues of smaller movies. They believe that the decrease in sales may result from a drop in word-of-mouth promotion from file-sharers. However, the movie industry didn’t like the media coverage generated by the study and pointed at two Carnegie Mellon University studies which argued that piracy harms sales. This was not a surprise, because the research was supported by a $100,000 grant from the Association.

It seems that the academic research is very important for the MPAA’s lobbying efforts, and this is why the outfit has recently started a grants program in the hope to enlist more academics to conduct the studies in this field. So, the MPAA is currently accepting research proposals on related topics. Those include the impact of copyright legislation on innovation and the effectiveness of DMCA takedown notices. The outfit promised that the best applications will be awarded a $20,000 grant for their efforts to contribute to understanding the changes the content industry faces by providing “unbiased” insights.

The Motion Picture Association of America is sure that academic research is an important tool in their efforts to make sure that copyright protections are still in place, or are strengthened in the case of need.

In the meantime, industry observers admit that this outreach to academics may be caused by what their “opponents” are doing. For instance, Google is also actively supporting academic research on copyright-related projects in order to further their own interests.

However, it is clear that both sides steer academics by providing them with precise directions on the grounds they expect to be covered. In other words, it is now up to the researchers to make sure that they are not pawns in a bigger fight. The most difficult part is to make sure that your research is conducted and results presented in an objective manner – that’s after you got thousands as a “grant”.