Intellectual Property Rights
Enforcement Legislation Passes Senate
WASHINGTON
(Friday, September 26, 2008) – The Senate today unanimously passed
legislation designed to address intellectual property rights
enforcement concerns and to protect American innovation and
advancement. The legislation was introduced in July by Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking
Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). The Judiciary Committee reported
the measure earlier this month. After constant negotiations in
the Senate, and with the House of Representatives and the
administration, the bill was amended and passed Friday. The
bill is scheduled to be considered by the House of Representatives
today.
The legislation would provide increased
resources for Department of Justice programs to combat intellectual
property theft, and provide coordination and strategic planning of
federal efforts against counterfeiting and piracy. Leahy and
Specter introduced the legislation with Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.),
George Voinovich (R-Ohio), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and John
Cornyn (R-Texas). Judiciary Committee Members Ben Cardin
(D-Md.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
joined as cosponsors before the bill was reported by the Committee.
A summary of the provisions of the
Senate-passed bill, the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for
Intellection Property, follows.
Leahy, who led negotiations about the
legislation after the Committee reported the measure, said, “We have
worked together, and we have worked hard, to craft a bipartisan,
bicameral bill that addresses the concerns of the many stakeholders,
the administration, and the House of Representatives.
Intellectual property makes up some of the most valuable, and most
vulnerable, property we have. We need to do more to protect it
from theft and abuse if we hope to continue being a world leader in
innovation. If we make better and stronger efforts to combat
counterfeiting and piracy, we will also enjoy more jobs, greater
returns on productivity, and more taxes being paid, rather than
having infringers and thieves enjoy the financial gains of
wrongdoing. I hope with the short time left in this Congress,
the House of Representatives can report this important, bipartisan
legislation, and that the President will support Congressional
efforts to protect American innovation.”
Specter said, “With intellectual
property contributing so heavily to our national economy, it has
become one of our most valuable assets. This bill gives our
government the additional tools it needs to protect American
innovation by enhancing the civil and criminal penalties for
intellectual property violations and discouraging criminal
organizations from entering the counterfeiting and piracy market.
I look forward to getting this legislation to the President’s
desk.”
Bayh said, “This is an enormous victory
for this country's innovators and a wake-up call for foreign
counterfeiters who believe they can steal our ideas with impunity.
We must quickly reconcile differences with the House version, and
President Bush then should immediately sign this legislation into
law because this strict enforcement regime will save tens of
thousands of American jobs and untold millions for our national
economy if implemented fully and faithfully.”
Voinovich said, “In the fierce
competition of the 21st century global marketplace,
intellectual property is one of the few areas where
America
has a clear advantage over foreign competitors. It is vital that we
strengthen that advantage, level the playing field and ensure future
economic growth for Americans. I am pleased that my colleagues
in the Senate understand that this legislation is a critical step
toward safeguarding the economic health of our country by improving
the management, coordination and effectiveness of our nation’s
intellectual property enforcement efforts.”
Feinstein
said, “America’s
creative talent is the best in the world, and generates intellectual
property that drives the U.S.
and California
economies. It’s vital that this creative work is protected
from theft and abuse. This legislation will do exactly that, and
will ensure that law enforcement has the tools it needs to fight
intellectual property crimes. I urge the President to sign this
important bill into law.”
Cornyn said, “As intellectual property
continues its rapid growth as an important part of America’s economy, it is critical
that Congress moves to strengthen our protection of discoveries,
creative works, and inventions from counterfeiting and piracy.
American workers are harmed by each and every theft of intellectual
property from U.S.
companies. This issue affects not only the bottom lines of
American businesses, but the pocketbooks of millions of American
families.”
Cardin said, “The Bush administration has done little to
protect one of our country’s most vital strategic and economic
interests – our intellectual property. It has cost our nation
at least $200 billion and an estimated 750,000 jobs. I believe the
Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellection Property
will provide the teeth our law enforcement agencies need to clamp
down on those that engage in this illegal conduct.”
Hatch said, “I am pleased S. 3325 cleared the Senate today.
Once again, working with Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter,
we have been able to perfect the language on this important bill,
which will be an invaluable tool in combating international
counterfeiting and piracy and in safeguarding our nation's
intellectual property rights.
Whitehouse said, “Piracy, counterfeiting, and other
intellectual property crimes cost American businesses $250 billion
each year -- more than all other property crimes combined -- but the
federal government simply hasn't been effective to stop it. Working
on investigations as Rhode Island’s U.S. Attorney, I saw that
there was simply no substitute for investigators and time.
This bill will put more FBI agents on the intellectual property beat
to go after foreign criminals who steal Americans’ ideas and hard
work.”
Additional Senate cosponsors include Senators
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Hillary Rodham
Clinton (D-N.Y.), Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Bob Corker
(R-Tenn.), Charles Schumer, (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.),
Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Sherrod Brown
(D-Ohio), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.).
# # # # #
Leahy
Statement On Senate Passage Of S. 3325
Background
Points on S. 3325
Changes
to S. 3325 Since Introduction (Including Changes in Floor Amendment)
Text
of Legislation, with Floor Amendment
# # # # #
Background Points on S. 3325
For Background
Intellectual property – copyrights, patents,
and trademarks – is critical to our fiscal health and to our
continuing dominance of the world economy. This valuable
property is also terribly vulnerable; by its very nature, it is
subject to numerous types of thievery and misappropriation. S.
3325 gives law enforcement the resources and the tools it needs to
combat piracy and counterfeiting, and will improve coordination
among the many agencies that deal with intellectual property
enforcement.
Title I
·
Title I enhances civil intellectual
property rights laws and improves remedies. First, it adds a
harmless error provision to the registration requirement for
instituting a suit, so that an infringer cannot avoid liability
based on a harmless error in a registration.
·
Second, it gives copyright owners the
same rights as trademark owners to impound records documenting the
infringement, while including protections to ensure a court will
issue an appropriate protective order.
·
Third, title I increases statutory
damages in counterfeiting cases and applies them not only to those
who intentionally use a counterfeit mark, but also to those who
supply goods necessary to the commission of a violation of the
Trademark Act, if they intend that the recipient of the goods or
services would put the goods or services to use in committing that
violation.
·
Finally, Title I applies the
copyright laws not only to imported goods, but also to exported
items.
Title II
·
Title II improves and harmonizes the
forfeiture laws governing intellectual property rights violations.
It creates a new forfeiture section for both civil and criminal
forfeiture, building off the model in the Protecting American Goods
and Services Act passed in the 109th Congress. It
protects against the possibility that third party information may be
disclosed by including protections to ensure a court will issue an
appropriate protective order with respect to information found on
items seized.
·
Title II also applies the trademark
laws to prohibit exporting or transshipping counterfeit goods
through U.S. ports, so that counterfeiters cannot use U.S. ports to harm U.S. intellectual property owners.
·
This title also increases the maximum
statutory penalties for counterfeiting offenses that endanger public
health and safety and enhances penalties for recidivists in felony,
criminal copyright cases.
Title III
·
This title addresses concerns that
the current governmental structure to coordinate intellectual
property rights enforcement among agencies and departments is
impeding the Government from reaching its full potential.
·
It replaces the current National
Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council
(NIPLECC), currently housed in the Department of Commerce, with an
Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator within the Executive
Office of the President. The Coordinator will chair an
inter-agency committee that will produce a Joint Strategic Plan to
combat piracy and counterfeiting and which will identify duplicative
or inefficient efforts.
·
The Coordinator, to be effective,
needs to be in the White House. This will ensure the
Coordinator has the appropriate vantage point for viewing the
efforts underway in each Department and agency, that the Coordinator
does not have institutional loyalties and obligations to any
particular agency or department, and that the Coordinator has both
the visibility and the access to provide a most effective executive
branch voice on IP enforcement.
·
The interagency intellectual property
enforcement advisory committee will comprise the Coordinator and
Senate-confirmed representatives of the Office of Management and
Budget, the Department of Justice, the United States Patent and
Trademark Office and other relevant units of the Department of
Commerce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the
Department of State, the United States Agency for International
Development, the Bureau of International Narcotics Law Enforcement,
the Department of Homeland Security, United States Customs and
Border Protection, United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of
Health and Human Services, the Department of Agriculture, the United
States Copyright Office, and any such other agencies as the
President determines to be substantially involved in the efforts of
the Federal Government to combat counterfeiting and piracy.
Title IV
·
Title IV will increase the resources
available to both Federal and local law enforcement.
·
Section 401 provides much- needed
resources to state and local law enforcement to battle intellectual
property theft. The grant program is modeled on DOJ’s Byrne
Grants for criminal law enforcement, but will require a 50 percent
match by state and local governments.
·
Section 402 ensures that, subject to
appropriations, there are at least 10 additional operation agents of
the DFBI designed to support the Computer Crime and Intellectual
Property Section. It also ensures that DOJ computer hacking
and IP crimes units are supported by at least one FBI agent.
This section also ensures that agents will have the necessary
forensic training, and ensures that the Attorney General will
develop and implement a comprehensive plan to prosecute
international organized crime that is profiting off the theft of
intellectual property.
·
Section 403 authorizes additional
funds to be available to hire and train new FBI agents and new
prosecutors to combat intellectual property theft, as well as to
procure advanced tools for investigating computer hacking or
intellectual property crimes.
·
Section 404 requires the Attorney
General and the Director of the FBI to submit detailed annual
reports on actions taken to carry out title IV.
Title V
·
Section 501 requires a GAO study on
how the federal government can better protect the intellectual
property of manufacturers by quantifying the impacts of imported and
domestic counterfeit goods. .
·
Section 502 requires a GAO audit and
report of the effectiveness of the Intellectual Property Enforcement
Coordinator and the Attorney General’s efforts to improve the
efficiency of intellectual property rights enforcement.
·
Section 503 provides a sense of the
Congress about the importance of preventing criminal violations of
the intellectual property laws
# # # # #
Changes to S. 3325 Since Introduction (Including Changes in Floor
Amendment)
For Background
The additional provisions in the
floor amendment to S. 3325 are as follows:
·
Clarify that the harmless error
provision in section 101 does not affect any other rights of
creators. (section 101.)
·
Correct an inadvertent error in title
III by changing the term “infringed goods” to “infringing goods” in
several places. (sections 302, 303, and 304.)
·
Provide that the Coordinator assists
in the implementation of the Joint Strategic Plan at the request of
the relevant departments and agencies. (section 301.)
·
Revises the contents of the Joint
Strategic Plan to stress coordination among the relevant departments
and agencies to improve accountability and oversight. (section
303.)
·
Correct a spelling error on page 57.
(section 501.)
·
Correct the title of section 403 to
reflect the fact that the section addresses both intellectual
property crimes and other criminal activity involving computers.
(section 403.)
·
Change the date for the Department of
Justice’s and Federal Bureau of Investigation’s required reports to
Congress under section 404, from October 1 to May 1, to give
sufficient time for oversight. (section 404.)
# # # # #
Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On S. 3325,
The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual
Property Act of 2008
September 26, 2006
We are a Nation in the midst of an
unprecedented financial crisis. It is not just our financial
enterprises that are shaken, but our confidence in our own economic
strength. The Members of this Congress, and the people of this
Nation, are being asked to do take extraordinary steps to contain
the explosions on Wall Street. We must not, as we try to
repair the structure of our financial institutions, neglect the very
sources of our economic power. Intellectual property –
copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets – is an
ever-growing sector of our economy. We are the envy of the
world for the quality, and the quantity, of our innovative and
creative goods and services. If we want to continue to lead
the world in producing intellectual property, we need to protect our
citizens’ rights in that property.
Long ago, I was the
Chittenden
County State’s
Attorney in Vermont.
There is crime everywhere, even in
Vermont, and I prosecuted every kind of
case. I will never forget how much successful prosecutions
depend on whether the investigators and lawyers charged with
protecting the public from crime have the right tools to do so.
No matter how dedicated the prosecutor, and no matter how outrageous
the crime, if the laws are not clearly and sensibly drafted, or if
the resources are simply inadequate, no justice will be done.
The intellectual property enforcement bill we
consider today is designed solely and specifically to ensure that
law enforcement has the tools it needs to protect our Nation’s
impressive array of intellectual property. The revisions to
the civil and criminal statutes, the provision of directed resources
to government at all levels, the coordination across the Federal
government of efforts in creating policies and enforcement efforts,
and the requirements for reporting to the Congress – all of these
provisions are focused on strengthening the protection of our
intellectual property.
Vermont is
special to me, and the goods from
Vermont
that embody intellectual property are prized by consumers around the
world. But every state in the Union
is home to industries based on intellectual property. The
creative and innovative Vermonters that I am proud to call friends
and constituents have counterparts in every other state. These
individuals and industries are essential to restoring and building
our fiscal health. In a time of such frightening economic
malaise, we should redouble our efforts to make sure that the
productive and valuable sectors of our economy are freed from the
debilitating effects of theft and misappropriation.
Intellectual property is just as vulnerable as
it is valuable. The Internet has brought great and positive
change to all our lives, but it is also an unparalleled tool for
piracy. The increasing inter-connectedness of the globe, and
the efficiencies of sharing information quickly and accurately
between continents, has made foreign piracy and counterfeiting
operations profitable in numerous countries. Americans suffer
when their intellectual property is stolen, they suffer when those
counterfeit goods displace sales of the legitimate products, and
they suffer when counterfeit products actually harm them, as is
sometimes the case with fake pharmaceuticals and faulty electrical
products.
This bill is among the most important I have
championed. Drawing on the experiences of thousands of
intellectual property owners, hundreds of law enforcement officials,
and all of the legislators in Congress, it provides a focused and
honed set of improvements to the intellectual property law, targeted
increases in resources for significant enforcement efforts,
streamlined inter-agency efforts to coordinate governmental
intellectual property policies, and vigorous oversight of the
Justice Department’s programs. I thank all the cosponsors of
this legislation for their efforts and support. Our bill will
improve the enforcement of our Nation’s intellectual property laws,
bolster our intellectual property-based economy, and protect
American jobs.
I ask unanimous consent that the full bill text
be included in the Record.
# # # # #
