Last week, federal authorities in Los Angeles proposed a change in the current manner in which IP theft is dealt with - they believe that deeper investigating and stricter prosecutions will lead to a decline in IP violations.
Some changes include allowing using wiretaps to further investigate IP theft that poses a threat to public health and safety issues, and stationing extra federal investigators in largely populated cities. Additionally, certain "piracy hot sports" in Asia and Eastern Europe would also receive more investigators specially trained in IP theft. Schools are encouraged to increase their efforts to ensure that illegal file sharing and other copyright infringement doesn't occur on school grounds.
John Ashcroft, U.S. Attorney General states that "with the recommendations put forward by the (federal) task force, the department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual property crime in our nation's history."
Included in the federal report is a proposition that all Internet service providers (ISP's) be required to turn in all of their respective users who have engaged in any sort of illegal file sharing, and thus copyright infringement, via the web. Although this same idea was set forth in the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act, it has yet to receive widespread acceptance among ISP's - Verizon has refused to release the information, claiming they need to protect their subscribers' identities. Verizon went to court over this issue, winning in a lower court. The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the case last week.
While the Supreme Court's refusal appears detrimental to the federal proposition, Ashcroft is standing by the recommendation, saying "we believe people in the private sector have a responsibility to address these threats in the civil dimension as the law allows them and we have a responsibility to address these matters criminally."
The proposed changes stem from the fact that most IP theft prosecution and investigation has been focused on illegal MP3, movie and computer software file sharing on the Internet, there are thousands of other items subject to IP theft that have the same, if not worse, consequences. For instance, "counterfeit drugs, brake pads, cell phone batteries, baby formula" are just a few of the many items that are victims of IP theft and suffer huge profit loses as a result. Federal authorities estimate actual loses due to copyright infringement and IP theft at $250 billion a year.
To illustrate just how significant an impact copyright infringement has on our nation, the federal report notes that "sales of copyrighted materials alone accounted for 6 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product in 2002," and "companies that produce films, music, books, software and other copyrighted material employed 4 percent of the nation's work force in 2002."
Another issue Ashcroft feels needs reworking is how pending IP litigation is currently dealt with. He strongly supports a little known area of copyright law that "makes it a crime to circumvent software locks that protect movies on DVD, songs on CDs or other software." He says he "supprots fair use" and does not intend these propositions to target individual rights.
"We are trying to interrupt a massive hemorrhaging occasioned by significant networks of organized individuals who are stealing billions of copies of copywritten materials on a regular basis," Ashcroft said. "This is illegal distribution, not fair use."
Ashcroft's statements, along with the federal propositions for stricter investigations and prosecutions for IP violations and copyright infringement echo many of the changes already occuring throughout the country. The distinction between illegal distribution and fair use is sometimes a grey area, and the above mentioned changes would not only help to clarify any confusion, but would help to ensure that there are far less areas that need clarification.
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