Institute For The Future

Welcome Your New Copyright Overlord

On Monday, President Bush signed into law the PRO-IP Act, passed by the House in May with an amended version approved by the Senate and House in September. PRO-IP not only "toughens criminal laws against piracy and counterfeiting," it also officially establishes the position of intellectual property czar. The czar will be part of the Executive Branch and operate in the "Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative," or USIPER (which becomes USPIER if you transpose two letters).

 

 

Even after the removal of a part of the bill that would basically allow the Attorney General to sue on behalf of the infringed (read: RIAA), public advocacy groups like Public Knowledge feel that the bill is simply too much. They believe that it may, make it easier for lawsuits to wrongfully punish those who haven't committed infringement at all.

 

Full articles from PC Mag, Reuters, and Wall Street Journal.

 

Fact sheet from WhiteHouse.gov