SOPA architect now pushing for "IP Attaché" legislation

[nsane.forums]

Bill's proponents say it would streamline an a complex system of management.

Ars has previously opposed overly draconian IP laws, such as SOPA.

Another week, another controversial intellectual property enforcement bill hits Capitol Hill. This time, it’s called the IP Attaché Act, and while a draft bill has been released so far, it hasn’t officially be introduced in Congress.

The bill, its proponents say, "streamlines" the process of intellectual property enforcement abroad. Meanwhile, opponents charge that this is wholly unnecessary, given the myriad of federal agencies that already do this, in addition to the fact that this bill has been drafted in secret.

Some media outlets have charged that this new bill is a way to re-introduce SOPA, the controversial bill that died in Congress earlier this year. Indeed, this bill is sponsored chiefly by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who also was one of the primary architects of SOPA.

Strong copyright for all

According to the draft, the law would "establish an intellectual property attaché program by appointing and placing intellectual property attachés in United States embassies or diplomatic missions in countries where the activities of such an attaché are likely," and that this person would direct enforcement mechanisms as dictated by the United States Trade Representatives.

Those officers would then report ultimately to a new Commerce position, called the "Assistant Secretary for Intellectual Property," which would be appointed by the President. This person would be tasked with "[advancing] the intellectual property policy of the United States, consistent with the economic interests of the United States, both domestically and abroad."

The bill appears to further endorse a strong copyright point-of-view that the American government has become notorious for pushing around the world.

Opponents say new bill unnecessary

Public advocacy groups, most notably Public Knowledge, said there were plenty of federal entitites that deal with IP regulations.

"We already have, to name a few examples, an Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Office of Intellectual Property Rights at the Department of Commerce, Office of International Intellectual Property Enforcement at the State Department, Office of the Administrator for Policy and External Affairs–Enforcement at the Patent and Trademark Office, National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, Office of Intellectual Property and Innovation at the United States Trade Representative, and Intellectual Property Task Force at the Department of Justice," the organization wrote on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Judiciary Committee aide to Rep. Smith wrote in an e-mail to Ars that the bill is certainly not a follow-up to SOPA.

"The bill that the Committee currently is working on is a narrow piece of legislation to ensure better use of Patent and Trademark Office funds," the e-mail states, adding that a new draft would be circulated soon.

"The current draft increases organizational efficiency at the PTO and moves the IP attaché program squarely within the PTO to ensure direct accountability of the IP attachés."

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[DKT27]

SOPA rises from the grave once more

After fighting against SOPA earlier this year, the Internet rejoiced at its ability to come together against controversial bills. Now it's coming back again, ready for another round.

Remember when the Internet thought it had killed SOPA, and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief? Load up and get ready to face the most controversial Internet bill in recent memory for a second time in under a year now, if Lamar Smith gets things going his way. Smith is trying to revive pieces of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, slipping them in for consideration again. At the moment, he's trying to push the Intellectual Property Attaché Act, which was in the original SOPA bill, just not heavily publicized.

The new act - let's call it IPAA - calls for the creation of a global intellectual property task force. In other words, a force of people committed to stopping crime, except not superheroes and not nearly as awesome. What's to stop them using SOPA's own views on piracy? SOPA was very much biased towards the anti-piracy measures. Hollywood already seems to have a task force dedicated to investigating people, but the more the merrier.

If IPAA gets in, it would expand the Commerce Department's role to policing piracy globally. Countries with a long history of piracy, such as China, are going to be tough nuts for this group to crack if they're allowed to be formed. Anyway, the World Trade Organization has the jurisdiction to deal with things like that.

Lamar Smith is a name you've definitely seen before. He's the golden boy of the Hollywood executives. Possibly the best known example of Smith's contribution to technology, apart from SOPA, is the expansion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's powers. He condones bypassing copy protections, and allowing federal police more wiretapping / enforcement powers.

Smith doesn't have any outside bias, though. The Content Industry is his number one campaign contributor. His campaign received $133,000 from content creators during 2011. For that money they could probably turn Smith into a sock puppet and ensure his agreement with their ideas.

If IPAA gets through then Smith will only continue to revive pieces of SOPA. We can only hope the bill will be crushed under popular opinion, as SOPA originally was. Piracy is a topic guaranteed to get some people riled up, but there are some examples of when piracy can be beneficial. Just don't let Smith hear that or he'll be trying to push a bill against opinions online. Massive amounts of public attention was drawn to SOPA through sites performing one-day blackouts, and opinions towards it soured almost immediately. Now we're back at square one, fighting it piece by piece.

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[myidisbb]

please vote rinos and dmecorats out off office. that means our admin that is illegally using the illegal acta. get rid of them all