Bill Would Allow Justice Dept. to File Civil Copyright Infringement Claims

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 26, 2004 - 4:13am.

Washington -- A new bill has been introduced in Congress that would grant the U.S. Justice Dept., which currently only has the authority to file criminal copyright infringement claims, the additional power to bring civil copyright infringement claims against U.S. citizens and companies. The proposed legislation from Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) would allow the government to target copyright infringers with charges that would bring only monetary fines, rather than potential jail time and a criminal record necessary under criminal cases. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which has targeted hundreds of Americans with civil copyright infringement actions for offering music for download on the Internet, applauded the Leahy-Hatch legislation. "As the recent announcement of the FBI's new anti-piracy warning attests, copyright infringement is a serious crime damaging the thousands of hardworking artists, songwriters and everyone else who help bring music to the public," said RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol. "This legislation provides federal prosecutors with the flexibility and discretion to bring copyright infringement cases that best correspond to the nature of the crime."
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200403/032504a.html
http://www.riaa.com