Washington - A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday would give the Justice Department the power to pursue civil copyright enforcement actions against individuals who use file-sharing networks. The Intellectual Property Enforcement Act was introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and committee member Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

The bill would authorize additional funding to investigate and prosecute intellectual property crimes involving computers and the Internet, and allocate additional funds to the FBI to assign more agents to work on intellectual property crimes; it would also classify both the importation and exportation of pirated works as infringement.

"Copyright infringement silently drains America’s economy and undermines the talent, creativity and initiative that are a great source of strength to our nation," Sen. Leahy said in a statement.

Similar legislation (also called the "Pirate Act") has previously cleared the Senate three times, CNET News.com reported, despite contentions from civil liberties advocates and others that the legislation would essentially have the government filing the lawsuits currently being pursued by corporate copyright interests like the Recording Industry Association of America.

"I applaud Senators Leahy and Cornyn's leadership in working to ensure that adequate resources are available to enforce our nation's intellectual property laws," said Motion Picture Association of America chairman and CEO Dan Glickman.

Related Links:
http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200711/110707b.html

http://www.news.com/the-iconoclast/8301-13578_3-9813358-38.html

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200711/110707IP%20Enforcement%20Bill.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/32vhs8 (PDF: MPAA statement)