In a major coup for the recording and pharmaceutical industries, the U.S. Congress is trying to strengthen Intellectual Property Rights laws with a new Bill that has garnered widespread support from both Democrats and Republicans. Led by veteran legislator and Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), the House wanted to create a bill giving the Government more weapons in the war against Intellectual Property theft. Conyers commented upon it, saying "By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society." The title of the bill is the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property ("PRO IP") Act of 2007.
If passed, the law will not only strengthen criminal and civil penalties for infringement of copyright and trademarks, but also create the "Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER)" at the White House and also make a separate IP-protection unit at the Justice Department and authorize the drafting of IP officers to work with other countries to help protect U.S. IP rights.
The most important parts of the Act include: Beefed up fines for copyright cases where compilation copyright frauds are at issue. Currently, for an entire album being stolen, there is a maximum fine of $30,000 for non-intentional infringements. But the new bill would allow damages of $30,000 for each track on an album.
Another part of the Act encourages maximum penalties for repeat copyright offenders. The current law states anyone "willfully" infringing on a copyright by selling or distributing more than $1,000 of materials has committed a crime. But the new PRO IP Act keeps static the 10-year prison term for the worst-case repeat law breakers, but gets rid of the current demand that a repeat offender must have distributed more than 10 copyrighted works within 180 days.
Further, any computer or network used to create copyright fraud, or "facilitate" a copyright crime can be confiscated by the Feds and auctioned off. The Justice Department can keep the proceeds of such sales as part of the budget, being a type of civil asset forfeiture. Most surprisingly, the computer's owner does not have to be convicted of any crime for this forfeiture and sale to be legal. So, should the Feds conclude that a person is a copyright thief, even though they do not believe they have evidence that would stand up in court, they can still sell the computer and related equipment used in the copyright theft.
The most detailed aspect of the PRO IP Act is its stipulation for the creation of a new federal bureaucracy within the President's ambit called the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, or WHIPER. The head of WHIPER would be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The model for the WHIPER appears the U.S. Trade Representative. This Agency's leader will be the president's top advisor and spokesman for intellectual property rights, and will articulate descriptions of those countries that refuse to protect IP rights can be named, called-out and confronted, if necessary. There will be an official seal of office, and the WHIPER will bring down a royal wage, as well, hauling in $186,600 in 2007, which is on the same level as the Secretary of State and Defense Secretary.
A major aspect of the WHIPER's tasks will be assembling a "Joint Strategic Plan" that will identify those who traffic in pirated goods. Perhaps the WHIPER will create a top-ten offender's roll not unlike the Most Wanted FBI list to put a face on the crime and an onus for their criminality. An annual report will be delivered every year to Congress by December 31, and ten "intellectual property attaches" will be sent to prominent embassies around the world.
A final and very promising change to the law will be a revamp of the U.S. Justice Department's intellectual property enforcement machinery. Part of this will be creation of an "Intellectual Property Enforcement Division," to help fight computer-related crimes and will be funded with $25 million to start off.
