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US bill would bolster IP enforcement efforts

Eileen McDermott, New York

House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers introduced a bipartisan bill last week which would strengthen civil and criminal laws related to trade mark and copyright infringement

The draft legislation, entitled the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act of 2007, is sponsored by an equal number of Democrats and Republicans.

The bill would in part establish the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER). Its sponsors say that this would "enhance nationwide and international coordination of intellectual property enforcement efforts".

Another section of the bill seeks to create a permanent IP division within the Department of Justice (DOJ), which would take over the IP-related duties of the department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property section (CCIPs), introduce new resources to improve IP law enforcement and require the DOJ to prepare an annual report detailing its IP enforcement activities.

The House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will hold a hearing this week to discuss the proposed bill.

"This legislation is an important and necessary step in the fight to maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace," said chairman Conyers in a statement. "By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society."

Conyers is also a sponsor of patent reform bill HR1908, which was passed by the House of Representatives in September.

According to the House Judiciary Committee’s release, counterfeiting and piracy now accounts for between $500 and $600 billion each year in lost sales and approximately 5% to 7% of global trade. In the US, the politicians say it accounts for between $200 and $250 billion each year in lost sales and costs 750,000 jobs.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a non-profit organization that fights to protect the digital rights of consumers, is against the proposed legislation. In a statement released on Friday, the EFF said: "Unfortunately, the PRO IP Act is just another in a long line of ‘one-way ratchet’ proposals that amplifies copyright without protecting innovators or technology users."

As one example of the ways in which such laws may disproportionately impact individuals, the EFF cited the PRO IP Act’s plan to allow the recording industry to seek statutory damages against music filesharers in respect of each song, rather than for each album.

"Going after commercial pirates is a good idea, but copyright law often fails to distinguish between commercial counterfeiters and regular folks", the EFF said.