Sensenbrenner Copyright Penalty Bill Expected Next Year
With the Hill schedule packed with higher priority items, a copyright bill by House Judiciary Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) probably won’t see action this year, U.S. Chamber of Commerce officials said in a briefing with reporters Mon. But “you'll see next year this bill will be taken up in earnest,” Senior Coordinator-Intellectual Property Enforcement Brad Huther said. Sensenbrenner’s Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act (HR- 5921), written by DoJ, circulated in draft as the Intellectual Property Protection Act until late July (WID July 27 p4). The Chamber’s other priority, anti- counterfeiting bill HR-32, was signed earlier this year by President Bush.
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HR-5921 would add about 350 federal prosecutors to DoJ’s Computer Hacking & Intellectual Property units and $10 million each for DoJ and FBI to fight digital piracy. The bill would: (1) Clarify that the U.S. can prosecute criminal copyright infringement before owners register works that are pirated. (2) Harmonize forfeiture and restitution law on IP offenses, and harmonize copyright and trademark law on seizing evidence in civil cases. (3) Strengthen penalties on repeat offenders, which the Chamber believes would improve deterrence. Perhaps most controversially, the bill would criminalize “attempted” copyright crimes and classify as “trafficking” possession of devices capable of circumventing DRM tools with intent to distribute, the latter a provision that would hamper security research, according to a Princeton researcher (WID April 26 p1). House Judiciary hasn’t made any public statement about reintroducing the bill next year, but committee staff give him the impression the bill isn’t dead, Huther said.
Piracy continues to rise in China, Russia, Brazil, India, S. Korea and other nations because it’s a “high reward, low-risk business venture,” Huther said. China is the main source of pirate or counterfeit goods, providing about 2/3 of them, he added. Whether or not Chinese piracy is state-sponsored, “the results are one and the same,” he said, adding that China seems to believe “it’s better to look the other way” on piracy. But Huther noted that China’s IP system has been around only 20 years, and “it’s a long learning curve” on proper enforcement mechanisms.
The Chamber’s China intellectual property rights (IPR) program is based on a “long-term strategy of engagement” with officials at the provincial and local level, said Assoc. Dir.-China Jennifer Osika. Piracy hotspots include Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, although the latter has responded better to IPR concerns, she said. Application of criminal penalties to illegal behavior now restricted to wrist-slap administrative rebukes is needed, as are “benchmarking initiatives” to gauge progress and diagnose areas needing intervention, Osika said. Diplomats once raised issues with Chinese country by country, but now they speak jointly to stay on message, she said.
Chamber members are split on whether the U.S. should bring a WTO complaint against China, Osika said. A U.S. Trade Representative official said in June it was “very possible” the U.S. will bring a complaint this fall (WID June 8 p3). The Chamber hasn’t taken a position “yet” but is “evaluating” whether to do so, Osika said. Two concerns predominate: (1) A case could be hard to bring with so few data on active noncompliance by China. (2) Bringing a case could have ramifications on the “broader commercial relationship” between the countries. Any case would focus on enforcement, not regulatory or legal reform, but at the moment “we're really just in a listening mode,” Osika said. The copyright sector has been most active in pushing for a complaint, she added. The Chamber is working on an antipiracy conference in China for the first quarter of 2007, in addition to small regional seminars, Osika said.
Russian piracy continues to grow through “industrial- level production,” and authorities “don’t have a solution to it,” said Eurasia & Intellectual Property Affairs Dir. Michael Considine. The high rate of piracy is not only a “stigma” for the country but bad for Russian business, he said. Huther said China’s failure to live up to its commitment to improve piracy enforcement as a condition of WTO entry led the Chamber to view Russia with the same skepticism. There was no discernible support for Russia’s WTO entry at the recent G8 summit, he said.
Brazil is deemed a new piracy hotspot, albeit as a market for pirated goods, not a source, Assoc. Dir.- Intellectual Property Rights Leticia Lewis said. Once considered a problem limited to the lower classes, piracy is embraced -- knowingly -- by all social classes in Brazil, although the wealthy tend to buy higher-end items such as pirated software and computer equipment, she said. With studies showing the biggest piracy purchases among 16-24s, Chamber allies in that country plan to launch a new education initiative targeting college students by year end, she said.