IP owners got a lot of what they wanted when President Bush signed into law the PRO IP Act in October. For instance, a new position of IP enforcement czar will be created in the White House, government spending on IP enforcement will go up, penalties will be toughened for importing and exporting infringing goods, and copyright owners now can impound evidence of an infringement. For consumers who already feel the record industry’s pursuit of music downloaders is too tough, this was not good news. “Parents of teenagers head for the hills!,” suggested one commenter on a Cnet.com news story.
But the entertainment industry certainly didn’t get all it wanted. Until September the most crucial and controversial provision of the bill was one which gave the Justice Department the power to pursue civil cases against copyright infringers. That provision was opposed by a wide variety of public interest groups from librarians to civil liberties groups. They released a joint statement calling the legislation an “enormous gift of federal resources to large copyright owners.”
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