IP Legislation ‘Urgently Needed’ to Save U.S. Jobs, Says Coalition
Executives from six private sector groups touted the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act as a critical means to combat “job killing” Internet theft. The comments came at a Capitol Hill briefing Wednesday hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. General Counsel Rick Cotton of NBCUniversal rejected the idea that the bill would “break the Internet” and said website blocking already occurs and should be used against sites dedicated to IP theft. He acknowledged that the bill lacks sufficient language to prevent the growth of cyberlockers and websites that stream infringing content.
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S-968 was introduced in May by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The bill updates Leahy’s failed Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) proposal and gives enhanced tools to law enforcement and copyright holders to bring actions against so-called “rogue sites.” S-968 unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee later the same month and has been placed on the official Senate floor calendar.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has been a vocal opponent of the legislation and helped block the passage of COICA last session. When a reporter at the briefing asked about Wyden’s opposition to the bill, Cotton largely skirted the question. That the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously on the bill provides a “clear indication of the broad bipartisan support for reducing Internet theft,” said Cotton. He also said representatives are working to develop a companion bill but did not provide any details: “Our message to the Senate and to the Congress as a whole is that there is a broad coalition of support and a desperate policy need for this legislation.”
There is “no basis” to believe that the PROTECT IP Act would “break” the way the Internet currently works, Cotton told reporters. “Blocking currently occurs on the Internet and will continue to occur,” he said. “It happens with child pornography, malware and viruses. That blocking activity is not remarkable.”
"Cyberlockers pose a special challenge that needs to be thought through carefully,” Cotton told us. “To be honest, there has been a lot of discussion about that and it is an issue that remains to be determined.” IP groups such as the Association of American Publishers have criticized PROTECT IP for its absence of language on cyberlockers, which they say account for more than 80 percent of infringement traffic.
The PROTECT IP Act is a “critical first step” in cleaning up the Internet and protecting the public from counterfeits, said Jeannie Salo, associate director at Eli Lilly. Legislation is urgently needed to curb illegal online pharmacies that sometimes sell dangerous and life threatening counterfeit drugs, she said. “Counterfeits kills jobs but it also kills people.” The bill is particularly important because it encourages voluntary private action from Internet commerce companies like Google and GoDaddy, which Salo called “one of the most effective ways to deal with this problem.”
The legislation will help eliminate the “Whac-A-Mole” problem that enforcement agencies face when shuttered infringing websites are easily able to resume operations with another domain name, said Bruce Ghrist, associate general counsel at Rosetta Stone. He said it will help the Justice Department close the current loopholes that restrict enforcement of IP violations committed overseas.