by Mike Hall, May 16, 2011
The Internet is a major source for intellectual property theft and a major marketplace for counterfeit goods. But new legislation would crack down on “rogue websites” that offer anything from pirated copies of Hollywood blockbusters and popular music to counterfeit brand-name prescription drugs and airplane parts.
The bipartisan PROTECT IP Act [Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act] would allow authorities to move more quickly to shut down the sites, impose tougher penalties and sanctions and create stronger intellectual property rights. Says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka:
The economic well-being of workers in the United States—jobs, income, and benefits—turns more and more on our protecting the creativity and innovation that yield world-class entertainment, cutting-edge and sustainable manufacturing and construction, and disease-ending pharmaceuticals. In a tough economic time, the PROTECT IP Act will help to protect U.S. workers and consumers against digital thieves and counterfeit scammers.
The bill was introduced by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Conn.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chuck Grassley (D-Iowa). Says Grassley:
The online distribution and sale of pirated content and counterfeit goods imposes a huge cost on the American economy in terms of lost jobs, lost sales, lost innovation and lost income. Piracy and counterfeiting can also present serious health and safety problems for consumers. This legislation will add another tool to the toolbox for going after these criminals and protecting the American public.
Nine of the 23 unions in the AFL-CIO Department of Professional Employees (DPE) represent 400,000 creative professionals and other workers in the arts, entertainment, and media industries. Those workers, says DPE President Paul Almeida, are
actors, stage employees and technicians, musicians, writers, editors, and many others. Digital theft costs the arts, entertainment, and media industries billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs. For these skilled professionals, online infringement is wage theft.
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