[Ecommerce] FYI: Ashcroft to unleash Feds against pirates

[Manon Ress]

Wednesday October 13, 02:39 PM Reuters New Media

Ashcroft to unleash Feds against pirates

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
vowed Tuesday to marshal the full force of the Justice Department and
FBI in prosecuting movie piracy, illegal file sharing and counterfeit
intellectual property both domestically and abroad.

Ashcroft said the stepped-up campaign was vital to protecting the
nation's economy, which loses about $250 billion annually to copyright,
trademark and patent infringement.

"These recommendations are a blueprint for the most aggressive, the most
ambitious and the most far-reaching law enforcement effort ever
undertaken to protect intellectual property and counter intellectual
theft," Ashcroft said at a press conference in the U.S. Attorney's Los
Angeles offices.

Ashcroft said he will immediately implement the recommendations of the
DOJ's Taskforce on Intellectual Property, which spent six months
evaluating the issue.

Most of the recommendations center on heightened criminal enforcement
like adding five new Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Units to
the 13 already in place in U.S. cities. The DOJ further called on the
FBI to assign more special agents to intellectual property
investigations and for a nationwide and international crackdown on
copyright theft by crime syndicates.

Ashcroft even suggested that the high profit margin of copyright theft
could become a source of terrorist funding as more traditional avenues
of fund raising are cut off.

The wide-ranging campaign targets all types of counterfeit goods, from
prescription drugs and batteries to auto parts and DVDs. It also takes
aim at the theft of trade secrets and suggests that enforcement be
complemented by a nationwide education campaign focusing on peer-to-peer
networks and the FBI's new anti-piracy seal and warning.

The campaign was praised by Hollywood's trade groups.

"By expanding the number of CHIP units and the number of able
prosecutors devoted to investigating and prosecuting IP cases, the
Department of Justice is appropriately and vigorously defending a sector
of our economy worth over $626 billion," said Motion Picture Assn. of
America president and CEO Dan Glickman.

Added his Recording Industry Assn. of America counterpart Mitch Bainwol:
"No administration has ever mounted such a comprehensive approach to
defending America's gift to the world -- our creativity. For those who
work in the community of record labels, songwriters and artists, the
commitment of focus, energy and resources outlined in this report is
music to our ears."

On the international front, the DOJ recommended that federal prosecutors
be stationed in U.S. embassies in Hong Kong and Budapest and foster
closer ties with foreign investigators to prosecute these cases more
quickly. The DOJ also intends to amend extradition treaties so that
intellectual property crimes are covered and help copyright owners press
civil claims against infringers.

The task force recommended passage of several recent or pending bills
that would, for example, put a premium value on a copyrighted work that
hasn't yet been released to the public.

The report also offered suggestions for future legislation like
criminalizing attempted violations of copyright law and the possession
of counterfeit goods with the intent to sell them.

Industries-based copyrighted product accounted for $626.6 billion in
annual gross domestic product in 2002, or about 6% of the American
economy. These companies also employ about 4% of the nation's workers.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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--
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176