Federal Government Puts Baby Teeth into Enforcement of Criminal Copyright Infringement Laws
U.S. copyright-holders seeking to prevent illegal file-sharing have multiple remedies at their disposal, including the right to bring civil copyright infringement suits against downloaders and file-sharing sites, digital rights management technologies, and price and value competition. While each of these strategies is useful, each has limitations and none has been effective at compensating copyright holders for the massive quantity of illegal downloading that is currently occurring.
Another weapon in a copyright holder's arsenal are Federal laws which criminalize copyright infringement and related activities. Penalties for infringement can be severe, including prison sentences of up to 10 years for reproduction or distribution of multiple copies of copyrighted works. (fn1) On October 13, 2008, President Bush signed the Intellectual Property Act of 2008, or the "Pro IP Act." This Act beefed up Federal prosecutorial powers by removing barriers to criminal copyright enforcement, such as the requirement of copyright registration or pre-registration before suit, (fn2) and increasing the types of activities subject to criminal prosecution, to now include transshipment and exportation of goods with counterfeit trademarks. (fn3)
The portions of the Pro IP Act with the greatest potential for reducing copyright infringement were its enforcement provisions. The Act called for the creation of an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator ("IPEC") -- or IP Enforcement "Czar." (fn4) The Czar would attempt to coordinate the enforcement efforts of numerous federal agencies through chairing an interagency "property enforcement advisory committee" and developing and assisting the agencies in implementing a joint strategic plan against counterfeiting and infringement.
The Pro IP Act also called for the FBI to hire "at least 10 additional operational agents" to support its Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and to "ensure that any Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Crime Unit in the Department of Justice is supported by at least 1 agent" of the FBI.
