And so, while you were distracted by other controversies, this gets started. Yes, yes ... nothing to be afraid of unless you're a pirate. I mean, why care about privacy if you have nothing to hide?
A particularly odious element of this bill (well, it's almost all bad, but this is new) is that it brings into the Attorney General's office the prosecution of *civil* suits against alleged offenders, thus saving RIAA the trouble of doing it themselves.
Senator fuses controversial IP bills into big, bad package
By Julian Sanchez | Published: July 25, 2008 - 02:40PM CT
Intellectual property legislation introduced in the Senate on Thursday would combine elements of two controversial IP enforcement bills: The PRO-IP Act, which passed the House by a wide margin in May, and the PIRATE Act, which has won Senate approval several times since its first introduction in 2004. The law would increase penalties for counterfeiting, empower federal prosecutors to bring civil suits against copyright infringers, create a federal copyright czar to coordinate IP enforcement, and provide for the seizure of property used to violate copyrights and trademarks.
Like PRO-IP, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008 would double statutory damages for counterfeiting, with damages as high as $2 million for "willful" trademark violations. It also empowers the president to appoint an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (or "copyright czar"), who would develop a "joint strategic plan" meant to harmonize the IP enforcement efforts of diverse federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, Patent Office, State Department, and Department of Homeland Security. The Attorney General is directed to deploy five further IPECs as liaisons to foreign countries where piracy is rampant, and to establish a dedicated IP task force within the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The law also appropriates $25 million annually for grants to state and local government agencies working to crack down on IP violations.
Some of the strongest criticism of PRO-IP has been directed at a provision, replicated here, that would allow for the seizure of "property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part to commit or facilitate" a copyright or trademark infringement. While this language is presumably meant to target the equipment used by commercial bootlegging operations, it would also appear to cover, for example, the computer used to BitTorrent a movie or album.
The new bill also incorporates the idea at the core of the PIRATE Act, by permitting federal prosecutors to bring civil suits against copyright infringers. (While these suits would not preclude action by the copyright owner, any restitution to the owner under a government suit would be subtracted from the damages that could be obtained by private action.) Since 1997, prosecutors have had the authority to bring criminal copyright charges against large-scale infringers. But that power remains little-used, in part because of the high evidentiary burden prosecutors must meet in criminal cases; civil suits employ a less stringent "preponderance of the evidence" standard.
Bit More ...Senator Leahy's statement:
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On The Enforcement Of Intellectual Property Rights Act Of 2008
July 24, 2008
Before I was a Senator, I was a prosecutor. As the Chittenden County State's Attorney for eight years, I prosecuted all varieties of crime in Vermont. I know first hand how important it is for criminal investigators, and the lawyers who prosecute those cases, to have a full arsenal of legal tools to ensure that justice is done. I also know how important the intellectual property industries are to our economy, and to our position as a global leader. In Vermont, Hubbardton Forge makes beautiful, trademarked lamps. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company relies heavily on its patented products. Likewise, SB Electronics needs patents for its film capacitor products. Burton's snowboards and logo are protected by trademarks and patents.
While Vermont is closest to my heart, every state in the Nation has such companies, and every community in the United States is home to creative and productive people. Intellectual property - copyrights, patents, and trademarks - is critical to our fiscal health and to our continuing dominance of the world economy. This valuable property is also terribly vulnerable; by its very nature, it is subject to numerous types of thievery and misappropriation. The Internet has brought great and positive change to all our lives, but it is also an unparalleled tool for piracy. The increasing inter-connectedness of the globe, and the efficiencies of sharing information quickly and accurately between continents, has made foreign piracy and counterfeiting operations profitable in numerous countries. Americans suffer when their intellectual property is stolen, they suffer when those counterfeit goods displace sales of the legitimate products, and they suffer when counterfeit products actually harm them, as is sometimes the case with fake pharmaceuticals and faulty electrical products.
The time has come to bolster the Federal effort to protect this most valuable and vulnerable property, to give law enforcement the resources and the tools it needs to combat piracy and counterfeiting, and to make sure that the many agencies that deal with intellectual property enforcement have the opportunity and the incentive to talk with each other, to coordinate their efforts, and to achieve the maximum effects for their efforts. The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008 does just that.
First, it gives the Department of Justice the ability to bring civil actions against anyone whose conduct constitutes criminal copyright infringement. Many times, a criminal sanction is simply too severe for the harm done. This provision, the concept of which has passed the Senate on three separate occasions as the PIRATE Act, gives the Department of Justice an extra tool.
Second, the bill enhances civil intellectual property rights law by eliminating unnecessary burdens to instituting a suit; improving remedies; and applying the copyright and trademark laws not only to imported goods, but also to exported and transshipped items.
Third, the bill improves and harmonizes the forfeiture provisions in copyright and counterfeiting cases.
Fourth, the bill addresses concerns that the current governmental structure to coordinate intellectual property rights enforcement among agencies and departments is impeding the Government from reaching its full potential. It creates a Coordinator within the Executive Office of the President to chair an inter-agency committee that will produce a Joint Strategic Plan to combat piracy and counterfeiting.
Finally, the bill will increase the resources available to Federal, state and local law enforcement.
We are not addressing theoretical concerns with this bill, nor are we making grandiose policy proclamations. We are synthesizing the real-world experiences of our many constituents who develop and monetize intellectual property - the individuals and companies that turn their creative and innovative efforts into jobs, goods, and services - with the daily frustrations of law enforcement agents who lack the laws, and the resources, to vindicate those property rights.
I was once a prosecutor. I am now a Senator. But I have always been a fan of movies. My cameo in the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, was priceless to me, but we can put real numbers on the value of that production to the economy. The Dark Knight shot for 65 days in Chicago, pouring almost $36 million into the local economy. Seventeen million dollars went to nearly 800 local vendors that were critical to the production of the movie. For example, one local lumber supplier employing 40 people played a central role in the set construction that helped transform Chicago into the mythical "Gotham City." In order to fulfill the production needs of the film, the lumber company worked closely with 15 other Illinois-based companies. Those 15 suppliers employed an additional 350 workers.
All of that value is threatened by piracy. Just in the movie industry, piracy costs 140,000 U.S. jobs and $5.5 billion in wages each year. Piracy costs cities, towns and states an estimated $837 million in additional tax revenue each year. The movie industry alone produces $30.2 billion each year in revenue for 160,000 vendors all across the Nation, and 85 percent of those vendors employ 10 people or fewer.
This is a well balanced bill, drawn from numerous conversations with all manner of interested parties. It brings together the best of numerous proposals, including important legislation I introduced earlier this year with Senator Cornyn. His support on intellectual property matters is critical to our success moving forward. I thank him, and all the cosponsors of this legislation for their efforts and support. This bill will improve the enforcement of our Nation's intellectual property laws, bolster our intellectual property-based economy, and protect American jobs.
I ask unanimous consent that the full bill text be included in the Record.
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