Bo Andersen has served as president and chief officer of the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) since April 1999.
During his tenure, Andersen has overseen EMA initiatives to support independent video stores, market the value of home video to the public, expand the Association's member benefits, and maintain its leadership in legislative and legal affairs.
Andersen joined EMA as vice president and general counsel in 1995, and became the senior vice president and general counsel of the Association in August 1997. As the Association's general counsel, Andersen directed EMA's joint activities with other entertainment industry trade associations to successfully thwart a wide variety of legislation proposed in numerous states and in Congress that would have unfairly taxed video retailers, restricted the content of motion pictures and video games available in video stores, and otherwise directly burdened video retailers. The Association responds to more than 200 such bills annually, and did not lose a single legislative battle while Andersen served as its general counsel.
From 1996 to 1999, Andersen managed and won a major lawsuit filed by (then) VSDA to defend the First Amendment rights of video retailers and their customers following the seizure of copies of the Academy Award-winning film "The Tin Drum" by police authorities in Oklahoma City, OK.
Before joining EMA in 1995, Andersen served as the anti-piracy legal director for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and, in that role, built much of MPAA's criminal enforcement program, as well as its program of federal prosecution of cable and satellite "black box" manufacturers. Mr. Andersen also co-managed MPAA's government relations in the areas of anti-piracy and copyright legislation.