The Motion Picture Association of Japan is strengthening its anti-piracy efforts overseas by appointing former Disney Digital Piracy Prevention Executive Thomas Limousin-Lamothe to the newly created role of Vice President of Content Protection for the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
Limousin-Lamothe will report to Larissa Knapp, a former senior FBI official and anti-piracy agent who joined MPA in 2024 as EVP and Chief Content Protection Officer.
Limouzin-Lamothe will now lead MPA’s content protection strategy across EMEA. “He will work closely with regional stakeholders, law enforcement, industry partners, and member companies to address digital piracy challenges, including live sports piracy and illegal IPTV piracy,” the statement said.
MPA leads the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a global anti-piracy organization comprised of more than 50 media companies around the world, whose board members include Amazon, Apple TV, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Discovery. Recent ACE members include the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which joined in October 2025;
Recently, studios have taken legal action against AI companies such as China’s MiniMax for using copyrighted characters such as Darth Vader, Spider-Man, and Batman to generate content, as well as against Chinese tech giant ByteDance for its controversial AI video generation tool Seedance 2.0, marking a shift in the anti-piracy fight towards protecting intellectual property from AI-enabled piracy.
“I am honored to join the Film Institute at a time when collaboration and innovation are more important than ever in protecting creative works,” Limousin-Lamothe said in a statement. “We look forward to working with MPA members and regional partners to strengthen enforcement, disrupt illegal services, and support sustainable creative ecosystems across EMEA in the evolving piracy landscape.”
Limouzin-Lamothe began her career as an IP litigator and spent 10 years at a top French law firm. His experience spans intellectual property law, cybercrime enforcement, and large-scale anti-piracy operations in both private practice and in-house leadership roles. Prior to joining Disney, he held positions at 21st Century Fox and Microsoft, where he “built and led multinational teams, developed region-wide execution strategies, and delivered measurable revenue and compliance results across EMEA, with a focus on the Middle East, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe,” the statement said.
As Disney’s lead general counsel for anti-piracy in EMEA, Mr. Limousin-Lamothe was involved in global investigations and helped manage intelligence-driven enforcement initiatives protecting film, television content, streaming platforms and sports rights across multiple markets in the region.
