Senate Committee Approves Controversial Copyright Bill

Sam Gustin writes: The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a controversial intellectual property bill that some say would turn the federal government into an enforcement arm of the recording and movie industries.

The bill, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, would give the Justice Department the power to prosecute civil cases of copyright infringement. It would also expand the government's power to seize assets in copyright cases, as well as create a cabinet level position to oversee the fight against intellectual property theft.

The bill, which was introduced by Senators Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, is supported by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, the two major industry groups that have been at the forefront of the crackdown on digital piracy.

In a letter to senators, a coalition of groups including the American Library Association. the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumers Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public Knowledge, expressed their opposition to the bill.

The bill "would be an enormous gift of federal resources to large copyright owners with no demonstration that the copyright owners are having difficulties enforcing their own rights," the groups wrote. "Movie and television producers, software publishers, music publishers, and print publishers all have their own enforcement programs. There is absolutely no reason for the federal government to assume this private enforcement role."

The letter notes that the recording industry has already filed, or threatened to file, over 30,000 lawsuits against individual consumers.

The Judiciary Committee voted to pass the bill 14-4 Thursday; voting "no" were Senators John Kyl of Arizona, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Sam Brownback of Kansas, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, all Republicans. Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, was absent for the vote.

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