infoJustice

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has promised to introduce a house version of the PROTECT-IP Bill in September.  (The Senate version has been introduced and has cleared the Judiciary Committee, but Sen. Wyden has placed a hold on it).

According to a story in The Hill, details of the House version are still being ironed out, but “the bill may try to cut off payments made to U.S. companies that are generated by intellectual property theft in China and other countries. Smith said this bill can also be expected to increase funds for the Department of Justice for Internet-protocol enforcement.”

Also last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the senate version of the PROTECT-IP Act, which it estimates will cost taxpayers $47 million over five years if it becomes law.  The bulk of this will fund “salaries, benefits, training, equipment, and support costs” for 48 new employees of the justice department.  The CBO also acknowledged that the bill will impose costs on the private sector, but said it lacks the data to estimate these costs:

By authorizing DOJ to take legal action against Internet service providers, credit card companies, online advertisers, and search engines that engage in activities that infringe on the copyrights of others, the bill would impose a mandate. The companies identified in a DOJ legal action would be required either to block access to the Internet site or stop doing business with the site. The bill also would allow copyright holders to take legal action to prohibit credit card companies and online advertisers from doing business with Internet sites that infringe on copyrights. Because of uncertainty about how often and against whom the Department of Justice or copyright holders would use the authority to prohibit the actions outlined in the bill, CBO cannot determine the cost of the mandate to the private sector.

Sources:

• Gautham Nagesh for The Hill. “House Judiciary Chairman Promises Action on Copyright Enforcement, Immigration.” August 18, 2011.
• Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate: S. 968 Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011. (August 16, 2011).