OPI: Bush and Congress Create an IP Czar Role

["Okerson, Ann" <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

>From PC WORLD:
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008 12:10 AM PDT

U.S. President George W. Bush Monday signed into law a bill 
designed to increase protection of intellectual property (IP) 
such as software, films and music by raising penalties for 
infringement and creating a national "IP czar."

The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual 
Property Act of 2007, or PRO-IP Act, creates a high-ranking IP 
protection overseer, appointed by the Senate and reporting 
directly to the president. The position's first appointee will 
likely come from the next U.S. administration. The U.S. 
Department of Justice will also form a new division dedicated to 
enforcing intellectual property protection.

Some public advocacy groups had opposed the bill, stating that 
its penalties were far too harsh and that it didn't balance 
users' rights and concerns over those of major software, media 
and pharmaceutical companies. "The bill only adds more imbalance 
to a copyright law that favors large media companies. At a time 
when the entire digital world is going to less restrictive 
distribution models, and when the courts are aghast at the 
outlandish damages being inflicted on consumers in copyright 
cases, this bill goes entirely in the wrong direction," said Gigi 
B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge, a 
Washington, D.C.-based digital rights group, after the passage of 
the Senate version of PRO-IP in late September.

Even the DOJ came out against certain early provisions in the 
bill that were later struck, namely that they "could result in 
Department of Justice prosecutors serving as pro bono lawyers for 
private copyright holders regardless of their resources."

However, American businesses and their advocates were 
overwhelmingly in favor of PRO-IP. U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
President and CEO Tom Donohue had called upon Bush to sign 
PRO-IP. "Mr. President, you will be doing a great service for the 
nation's innovators, workers, and consumers by signing this 
legislation into law," he said in a speech made last week in 
Washington, D.C.
...................

"This bill truly is music to the ears of all those who care about 
strengthening American creativity and jobs. At a critical 
economic juncture, this bipartisan legislation provides enhanced 
protection for an important asset that helps lead our global 
competitiveness," Mitch Bainwol, chairman and CEO of the RIAA 
said in a statement following PRO-IP's passage in the Senate.

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