Copyright Bill Passes House of Representatives

[laramie]

From the RWA newsletter:

"The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (PROIPA) passed 408-11 in the U.S. House of Representatives on May 9. If passed into law, PROIPA "would enact sweeping reforms to copyright and patent enforcement, including raising statutory damage levels and lowering the bar for handing out prison terms in copyright offenses." The bill would create a new federal position of White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, to be filled by presidential appointment. Also, the U.S. Justice Department would create an "Intellectual Property Enforcement Division." The bill must still pass the Senate, and though it received support from the entertainment industry and the Association of American Publishers, it faces opposition from the library community, technology sector, and intellectual property scholars. Read more about the bill at
http://www.libraryjournal.com/info/CA6558062.html#news1
and http://judiciary.house.gov/newscenter.aspx?A=887
Library Journal Academic Newswire, May 6. "

Comments

[maiac.livejournal.com]

"The bill would create a new federal position of White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative, to be filled by presidential appointment."

That part scares me more than the rest. It's another expansion of executive power.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I don't know quite what to think of this yet. It seems to have a lot of potential for going either badly or for the good. I suppose I'll have to do some follow-up reading to get a better take on it.