AAAARG » Intellectual Property Act of 2007

Intellectual Property Act of 2007 [pdf]
written by Alberto Gonzales
shared by sean on May 30th, 2007 at 11:36 pm

A proposed bill by Alberto Gonzales to criminalize latent piracy (I think he calls it “intent to distribute”). Although it’s a couple of weeks old and the bill probably won’t pass, I thought I’d share the text in the context of the upcoming latency conversation. If piracy on the internet is always latent (piracy being just a criminalized subset of all browsing, sending, uploading, dowloading, looking, saving, duplicating, etc.) then intent could really come down to attitude - in other words, intent = latent possibility + willingness?

(See: latency of the moving image in new media)

sean wrote:
May 30th, 2007 at 12:40 am

press release for this thing:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   AG

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2007    (202) 514-2007

http://WWW.USDOJ.GOV           TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FOCUSES ON EFFORTS TO PROTECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Attorney General Urges Congress to Enact Important New Legislation

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today highlighted
the Justice Departmentâs ongoing efforts to protect
intellectual property rights, and announced a comprehensive
legislative proposal entitled the âIntellectual Property
Protection Act of 2007,â before members of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

In addition to the proposed legislation, the Departmentâs
ongoing commitment to combating intellectual property includes
measures for implementing valuable resources, and aggressively
prosecuting counterfeiters, each elements of the government-wide
Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) Initiative.

Implementing Resources to Protect Intellectual Property Rights In June
2006, the Departmentâs Task Force on Intellectual Property
issued a Progress Report outlining its progress in implementing 31
recommendations to improve IP protection.  The task forceâs
recommendations, and additional Department efforts include the
following:

          o An improved focus on international outreach and
capacity-building efforts.  In 2006 alone, prosecutors in the Criminal
Division trained over 3,000 prosecutors, investigators, and judges
from 107 countries; established an IP Law Enforcement Coordinator for
Asia in Bangkok, Thailand; and secured funding to establish a second
IPLEC position for Eastern Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria.

          o Expansion of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual
Property (CHIP) network of federal prosecutors dedicated to the
prosecution of high-tech and IP crime.  The total number of CHIP
prosecutors has increased to 230 (with at least one in each
U.S. Attorneyâs Office), and the number of specialized CHIP
Units has nearly doubled in the past two years to 25 cities
nationwide.

          o Focused outreach to the private sector. The Department has
hosted a series of training conferences for IP rights holders that
educate them on, among other things, the investigation and prosecution
of federal IP cases, the parameters for permissible cooperation and
assistance in federal investigations by private rights holders, and
procedures and tips for how best to report criminal violations of the
copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws.  Additional conferences
are planned for 2007.

Effectively Prosecuting IP Thieves and Counterfeiters

The Departments Criminal Division, along with U.S. Attorneys Offices
across the country in the past few years, have developed a strong
record of prosecuting violators of existing IP law, which includes:

Â· Substantial increases in federal investigations and prosecutions of
IP violations, including:

Â· In 2006, the Department convicted 57% more defendants of criminal
copyright and trademark offenses than in 2005;

                  1 In 2005, the Department prosecuted nearly twice as
many defendants as it had in 2004;

                  2 The FBI arrested 40 percent more defendants in IP
cases in 2006 than it had the previous year.

          o Criminal Division prosecutors have obtained pleas or
sentences in 22 separate intellectual property cases, in the last four
weeks alone.

          o A number of successful operations in recent years. These
include Operation FastLink, the largest and most successful global
online piracy enforcement initiative ever conducted, which has
resulted in the execution of more than 120 searches and arrests in 12
countries, the seizure of more than 200 computers, the complete
dismantlement of 30 Internet distribution sites, and the confiscation
of hundreds of thousands of counterfeit software titles valued at more
than $50 million.  To date, Operation Fastlink has obtained 50 total
convictions, a milestone never before achieved in an online piracy
prosecution.

          o Other recent prosecutions by the Criminal Division have
included the first ever plea of an individual extradited from a
foreign country for online software piracy; the conviction of four men
who sold more than $19 million in counterfeit software on eBay; and
the sentencing of a Utah man to 24 months imprisonment for operating
a for-profit piracy website that caused up to $2.5 million in losses
to the software industry.

The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007

Today the Department submitted to Congress the Intellectual Property
Protection Act of 2007 that would enhance the Departments ability to
prosecute crimes and protect the intellectual property rights of
citizens and industries. Among its many provisions, the Act includes
measures that would:

          o Increase the maximum penalty for counterfeiting offenses
from 10 years to 20 years imprisonment where the defendant knowingly
or recklessly causes or attempts to cause serious bodily injury, and
increase the maximum penalty to life imprisonment where the defendant
knowingly or recklessly causes or attempts to cause death;

          o Provide stronger penalties for repeat-offenders of the
copyright laws;

          o Implement broad forfeiture reforms to ensure the ability
to forfeit property derived from or used in the commission of criminal
intellectual property offenses;

          o Strengthen restitution provisions for certain intellectual
property crimes (e.g., criminal copyright and DMCA offenses);

          o Ensure that the exportation and transhipment of
copyright-infringing goods is a crime, just as the exportation of
counterfeit goods is now criminal.

###

sean wrote:
October 5th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
$9,250 per song. According to the New York Times, that is how much Brainerd, Minnesota’s Jammie Thomas will have to shell out for each of the 24 disputed tracks she reportedly shared on the Kazaa network. This is due to a decision made by a federal jury in a Duluth, Minnesota court yesterday, ruling in the favor of lead plaintiff Capitol Records, along with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, and Warner Music Group.

Thomas is the first person in the United States to be convicted of music sharing copyright infringement in a jury trial, and the decision sets a startling new legal precedent and serves as a major symbolic victory for the RIAA.

Thomas’ case is particularly interesting, as she was convicted of having copyrighted material in her Kazaa shared folder, but not necessarily sharing them herself. The Times reports, “Earlier, the judge in the case, Michael J. Davis of Federal District Court, ruled that for jurors to find her liable, the record labels did not have to prove that songs on Ms. Thomas’s computer had actually been transmitted to others online. Rather, the act of making them available could be viewed as infringement.“

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