Thank you for contacting me with your concerns about the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PROTECT IP). I appreciate you taking the time to contact me about this legislation.
As a co-chair of the House Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention Caucus, global intellectual property (IP) rights are of particular concern to me. The U.S. IP industry plays an important role in our economy by providing millions of jobs. However, copyright infringement and counterfeit goods pose major threats to the IP industry, and the U.S. as a whole. In January 2011, Envisional, an independent Internet consulting company, released a report that found over 17% of all internet traffic in the U.S. to be copyright infringing. I believe that the protection of intellectual property rights is absolutely essential to our nation's economic growth.
During the 110th Congress, I supported the Prioritizing Resources and organization for Intellectual Property Rights (PRO-IP) Act, S.3325, which passed the House of Representatives. The bill, now law, explicitly prohibits importing and exporting counterfeit materials, and allows the government to seize items and materials used to produce counterfeit products. Additionally, to PRO-IP Act provided for a restructuring of federal resources to enforce IP including deploying additional Intellectual Property Coordinators to act as the liaisons between agencies and governments working together to combat counterfeiting activity.
Senator Patrick Leahy introduced S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act on May 12, 2011. This legislation would provide the Attorney General (AG) and intellectually property right owners improved authority to regulate online piracy and sale of counterfeit goods on nondomestic internet sites dedicated to infringing activities (ISDIA). The bill permits the AG to take action against domain names themselves if individuals are unable to be found or have no address within a U.S. judicial district. S.968 also narrows the definition of an ISDIA to be a site that is designed, operated, and has no significant use other than participating in copyright infringement or selling counterfeit goods or services. Additionally, the legislation attempts to eliminate the financial incentive to steal intellectual property.
The Senate Judiciary committee passed the PROTECT IP Act, allowing for full Senate consideration, however Senator Ron Wyden placed a hold on the legislation, temporarily delaying consideration on the Senate floor. I understand the Senator's concerns, as well as many others opposing the legislation, who fear the bill is overreaching and may be a threat to freedom of speech on the internet. I will closely monitor the progress of S.968 and will keep your thoughts in mind should this bill be brought to the House floor for a vote.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns about the PROTECT IP Act. If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Adam Smith
U.S. Member of Congress
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