Patent Reform Act of 2007 - Update (Part 6)

Posted on August 31, 2007 by Brian Wm. Higgins

     In an earlier post this week--Seagate vs. Patent Reform Act of 2007--I included a link to R. David Donoghue's Chicago IP Litigation Blog and his post "Is the Patent Reform Act Stalled?"  David may have been onto something, as only a day later blogger Dennis Crouch reported in his post "Congressional Patent Reform is Dead; Long Live Adminstrative Patent Reform" that Congressional Republicans have asked Speaker Pelosi to put the brakes on patent reform legislation. In their letter to Pelosi (D-CA) dated August 30, 2007, available here, Representatives Boenner (R-OH) and Blunt (R-MO) asked for the reprieve to allow additional consensus building "so that all U.S. companies benefit from reforming the patent system rather than advantaging one business model over another." 

Comments:

  • The introduced Senate and House versions of patent reform legislation are: S.1145 and H.R.1908, respectively

  • A search of the Internet revealed Patent Reform Acts of 2005, 2006, and 2007; perhaps we should start looking forward to the 2008 or 2009 versions

  • The Pelosi letter was copied to Representatives Conyers (D-MI), L. Smith (R-TX), Berman (D-CA), and Coble (R-NC), all members of the House Judiciary Committee (Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property)

 

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Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007

Posted on August 2, 2007 by Brian Wm. Higgins

If, like 99.9 percent of the world, you eagerly fast-forward through the previews and warnings on your DVDs to get to the main feature, you may never have given much attention to the following criminal copyright infringement warning under the FBI’s anti-piracy logo:

"Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000."

Despite those warnings, and similar warnings on other copyrighted works, it comes as no surprise that piracy of media and other commercial goods continues to cause significant losses to artists, corporations, and other parts of the U.S. economy each year, with consumers paying the price through higher retail sales prices. 

The Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2007, H.R. 3155-IH, introduced to the House of Representatives on July 24, 2007, by Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), may cause many to rethink the criminal copyright infringement laws, because now, like many other criminal statutes, an attempt to commit copyright infringement will land you in just as much hot water as the actual completed crime itself:

“17 U.S.C. 506 (a) Criminal Infringement. * * *

(3) ATTEMPT AND CONSPIRACY.—

(A) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit an offense under paragraph (3)(1) shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the attempt.  

(B) CONSPIRACY.—If two or more persons conspire to commit an offense under paragraph (1) and one or more of such persons do any act to effectuate the object of the conspiracy, each shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.’’

The new law, if enacted in its present form, would further amend current U.S. copyright laws to give the government more power to investigate and prosecute criminal infringement cases regardless of whether the copyrighted work has been registered with the Copyright Office. The law would also stiffen certain penalties, including doubling prison terms in some situations and adding life terms for those who knowingly or recklessly cause or attempt to cause death in connection with specified conduct.  The bill follows the White House's criminal copyright legislative proposal, dated May 14, 2007, which was sent by DOJ to Rep. Pelosi and is signed by Richard Hertling, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General.

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