Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) yesterday introduced the Intellectual Property Enforcement Act (PDF), with Leahy saying, "The PIRATE Act has passed the Senate on three separate occasions; this should be the Congress in which it becomes law." Like previous incarnations of the PIRATE Act, this one tries to force the Department of Justice to bring suits against individual file-swappers, something that could save the recording industry plenty of money and could also displace some of the "bad guy" stigma that the labels have acquired after suing people like Jammie Thomas. The bill would give the Department of Justice authority to bring civil (not just criminal) cases against infringers, though it does limit penalties to those that could be imposed in criminal proceedings. The Attorney General can also bring such civil suits only when the act in question constitutes a crime (such civil suits can be easier to win).
Once again, we have the age old debate: does innovation survive if it doesn't produce direct income? Well, once again, instead of thinking, our government has decided that they know the answer and are going to try to fix the "problem". What is this problem? The problem is that record executives don't have as much gold lining on their pockets (so they claim). Don't kid yourself - artists make obscene sums of money, they don't need to make any more. If they claim they do, they're lying. I promise. And if they're not making enough money, it's for one of two reasons. They're either being screwed by the record executives, or they're simply not good.
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