[Infowarrior] - New DOJ IP task force brings "stronger and stricter enforcement"

[Richard Forno]

New IP task force brings "stronger and stricter enforcement"
By Nate Anderson | Last updated February 16, 2010 6:16 AM
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/02/new-ip-task-force-brings-stronger-and-stricter-enforcement.ars
The Department of Justice has announced a new intellectual property  
task force that will bring together antitrust, the civil and criminal  
divisions, and the FBI in an effort to "confront the growing number of  
domestic and international intellectual property (IP) crimes."

The announcement was vague on details, but it did make three curious  
statements that suggest the task force wants to do more than clamp  
down on counterfeit pharmaceuticals and knock-off handbags. For one  
thing, the new task force "will also serve as an engine of policy  
development to address the evolving technological and legal landscape  
of this area of law enforcement." Secondly, the Department of Justice  
will "leverage existing partnerships with federal agencies and  
independent regulatory authorities such as the Department of Homeland  
Security and the Federal Communications Commission." Finally, Justice  
will "develop a plan to expand civil IP enforcement efforts."

Taken separately, no statement is all that interesting; put them  
together, though, and it certainly sounds possible that the new task  
force will ponder ways to curtail Internet-based IP infringement,  
including "noncommercial" P2P (the music and movie businesses deny  
that there is such a thing; in their view, it's all commercial).  
Singling out the FCC as a partner agency, for instance, could mean  
only that the task force cares about better communications systems for  
law enforcement. Perhaps the task force just wants to encourage  
deployment of new gear in the 700MHz spectrum reserved for public  
safety?

On the other hand, expanding "civil enforcement" of copyright claims  
has long been on Big Content's wish list. The PRO-IP Act, which became  
law in 2008, initially directed the Department of Justice to prosecute  
major civil copyright cases, then turn any damage awards over the the  
private firms affected. That provision was stripped from the bill  
before passage.

The task force emphasis on "policy development" could also create  
pressure on the FCC to encourage "three strikes" rules by American  
ISPs. The possibility isn't just paranoid crazy talk; the MPAA and  
RIAA both explicitly asked the FCC to encourage this in recent filings  
on the soon-to-be-unveiled National Broadband Plan. And both groups  
attended a recent  IP-focused meeting with Attorney General Eric  
Holder and Vice President Joe Biden—a meeting explicitly credited with  
spurring the creation of the new task force.

"The Attorney General’s announcement follows a summit meeting convened  
last December by Vice President Biden, a long-standing champion of US  
intellectual property rights-holders," said the press release.

It also follows the creation of a new White House job, the  
Intellectual Property Encforcement Coordinator, which was mandated by  
the PRO-IP Act. Between Joe Biden, IPEC Victoria Espinel, the new DoJ  
task force, and the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement  
(ACTA), it's clear that intellectual property enforcement has the  
major backing of the Obama administration.

As Biden put it, get ready for "stronger and stricter enforcement of  
intellectual property rights.