Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006 is a proposed bill, backed by Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R) of Texas, that would greatly increase the scope of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as adding an assorted number of laws and penalties relating to intellectual property.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006 is supported by the Justice Department and aims to increase the government's ability to combat IP violations and help reduce terror-related and criminal enterprises supposedly funded by piracy. The government has not been able to show a verifiable link between IP violations and terror groups.
This bill should not be confused with HR 2391, The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2004 which was an earlier collection of intellectual property related legislation.
[edit] Major Provisions
- Allow criminal penalties even for work not registered in the US Copyright office.
- Increase jail time for attempted copyright infringement from 5 years to 10 or 10 to 20 years for further offenses even if the attempt is unsuccessful.
- Permit the use of wiretaps in copyright investigations and create a new FBI unit dedicated to copyright infringement
- Allow organizations holding copyrights to seize any documentation related to copyright infringement.
- Force infringers to forfeit property used in the offense.
- Expand DMCA language prohibiting the distribution of technology capable of circumventing copy protection to more restrictive language which prevents possession or creation of such technology if there is a possibility of redistribution.
