Dear William:
Thank you for your letter regarding the Preventing Real Online
Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act
(PROTECT IP Act). I appreciate hearing from you on this important
issue.
I have long championed the cause of innovation and an open Internet.
Firms operating on and off the Internet strongly rely on intellectual
property laws to help protect their investments and ensure a just return
for their goods and services. Online piracy and copyright infringement
hurts our economy and costs American businesses more than 200 billion
dollars a year. Many infringers operate from foreign countries in order
to avoid US law enforcement. As a result, under current law, American
authorities are limited in what they can do to bring these rogue sites
to justice.
As you know, the PROTECT IP Act was intended to protect American
businesses from intellectual property theft on foreign websites. Among
other things, the bill would provide the Attorney General with the
authority to seek a court injunction against a foreign website that
engages in copyright infringement. The court could also require U.S.
websites to block access to websites found to be dedicated to infringing
activities. For example, search engines could be required to disable
links to the website that is found to be violating copyright of a US
company.
However, there are a number of serious and legitimate concerns
regarding the scope of the legislation, as well as the potential for
abuse, censorship, or other unintended consequences. The authors
recognize the legislation still needs work and I will oppose any
proposal that would fundamentally undermine or impede the ability of
people to communicate, compete, and innovate using the Internet.
I am pleased that Majority Leader Reid has indefinitely postponed
Senate consideration of the PROTECT IP Act, and I will continue to
review and work to improve legislation to both protect the intellectual
property of American businesses and to ensure the web remains free and
open. As I consider proposals to address these issues, I will keep your
views in mind.
Thank you again for contacting me on this topic. Please don't
hesitate to reach me again on this or any other issue in the future.
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