Enhanced penalties for intellectual property crimes are necessary to increase the effectiveness of U.S. enforcement efforts, said White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel. Specifically, Congress should impose felony penalties for illegally streaming content and increase the U.S. sentencing guideline ranges to “address the substantial harm” caused by IP theft, Espinel wrote in a report to Congress Tuesday.
A Justice Department official called on Congress to reauthorize three key provisions in the Patriot Act set to expire in May, including one that allows quick shifting of phone taps from one carrier to another. The testimony came Wednesday during a hearing by the House Judiciary Committee’s Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security subcommittee.
The Justice Department has released the annual Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act1 reports, which describe the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) activities in combating crimes involving intellectual property (IP), and their steps to take to address IP crime in fiscal year 2011.
The White House’s Office of U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) has released a document of selected highlights of intellectual property enforcement achievements in 2010.
1. ITA, USTR Request Comments on Trade Advisory Committee System
The White House has posted a joint statement from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada from the recent meeting of the North American Leaders in Mexico. In the joint statement the leaders noted that they are investing in border infrastructure, including advanced technology, to create truly modern borders to facilitate trade and the smooth operation of supply chains, while protecting security. The leaders pledge to cooperate in the protection of intellectual property rights to facilitate the development of innovative economies. (Statement, dated 08/10/09, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Joint-statement-by-North-American-leaders/)
BERKELEY, Calif. -- A former judge on a secret court of wiretapping appeals faulted Congress as having failed to do oversight of the Bush administration’s warrantless communications surveillance. Edward Leavy, who left the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review last year, said the lapse undermined the checks that Congress had set up decades earlier against a lawless executive branch. He still sits on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
BERKELEY, Calif. -- A former judge on a secret wiretapping appeals court faulted Congress as having failed to do oversight of the Bush administration’s warrantless communications surveillance. He argued that undermined the checks it had set up decades earlier against a lawless executive branch.
Porn sites could no longer hide behind court rulings that found them exempt from federal labeling and record- keeping obligations -- so-called 2257 rules -- regarding depictions of sexually explicit conduct, under a Justice Department proposal. And social-network users who upload racy material might also be covered. The department released proposed rules to carry out provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. The law, passed in 2006 but not fully enforced, was intended in part to knock down court decisions that said only “primary producers” such as porn studios must verify the ages of performers to keep out those under 18. The act also extended the coverage of requirements to “simulated” sex and “lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area.”
The Justice Department would have no role in civil suits against P2P users under a revised S-3325 passed Friday by the Senate and expected to pass the House sometime this weekend. The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act, renamed the PRO-IP Act before passage to be consonant with a similar House-approved IP enforcement bill, alarmed an odd coalition of copyleft activists and Bush administration officials over what both termed a prosecutor-for-Hollywood provision (WID Sept 25 p5). Amid the flurry of floor activity, a new House bill was introduced that would authorize SoundExchange, the RIAA, the Digital Media Association and NPR to continue negotiating webcasting royalty rates after Congress adjourns.