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Gonzales proposes new crime: 'Attempted' copyright infringement

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pressing the U.S. Congress to enact a sweeping intellectual-property bill that would increase criminal penalties for copyright infringement, including "attempts" to commit piracy.

"To meet the global challenges of IP crime, our criminal laws must be kept updated," Gonzales said during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Monday.

The Bush administration is throwing its support behind a proposal called the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007, which is likely to receive the enthusiastic support of the movie and music industries, and would represent the most dramatic rewrite of copyright law since a 2005 measure dealing with prerelease piracy.

* Criminalize "attempting" to infringe copyright.
* Create a new crime of life imprisonment for using pirated software
* Permit more wiretaps for piracy investigations
* Allow computers to be seized more readily.
* Increase penalties for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's anticircumvention regulations.
* Add penalties for "intended" copyright crimes.
* Require Homeland Security to alert the Recording Industry Association of America.

A fresh class action lawsuit charges Apple's iTunes, major online music shops, and top record labels with performing an end-run around a musician's permission and his royalty payments.

In Lava v. Amurao, pending in the Southern District of New York, in White Plains, Judge Charles L. Brieant has entered an order denying the RIAA's motion to dismiss counterclaims for (a) declaratory judgment of non-infringement and (b) copyright misuse.

The Judge also granted the motion of the Electronic Frontier Foundation for leave to file an amicus curiae brief.

The copyright misuse counterclaim calls for the plaintiffs to forfeit their copyrights in the songs which form the basis for their suit, on the ground that they are "competitors in the business of recorded music.....[and] are a cartel acting collusively in violation of the antitrust laws and public policy, by litigating and settling all cases similar to this one together, and by entering into an unlawful agreement among themselves to prosecute and to dispose of all cases in an identical manner and through common lawyers..... Such actions represent an attempt....to secure for themselves rights far exceeding those provided by copyright laws......Such acts constitute misuse of copyrights, and lead to a forfeiture of the exclusive rights.....".

In Atlantic v. Boggs, in Corpus Christi, Texas, the RIAA has filed reply papers further arguing that the defendants' counterclaims should be dismissed:

In Maverick v. Chowdhury the RIAA continues to send letters indicating they are "willing to consider any information", this time taking "great umbrage" at being called liars in Mr. Chowdhury's counsel's previous letter:

TOKYO - Japan has passed a law banning people from recording new movies in cinemas, officials said Friday, closing a loophole amid pressure from film studios to stop piracy they say is bleeding the industry.

The law, enacted by parliament this week, prohibits the taping of movies in theatres until eight months after a film's first release, an official at the lower house said.

Anyone who violates the law will face up to 10 years in prison or a maximum 10 million yen (83 billion dollars) fine.

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