Howard Berman Looks To Send More Hated US IP Cops Around The Globe

from the enforcing-monopoly-is-hard-work dept

Earlier this year, we wrote about how the US's international copyright cops were complaining how people in other countries didn't like them very much. Specifically, they seemed shocked that other countries didn't necessarily agree with the US's view of copyright. Also, in that post, we had a quote from the US Chamber of Commerce, who was quite worried about "anti-IP activists" who were a "threat" rather than folks providing evidence of how excessive IP can do a lot more harm than good for industry. It's amazing that people providing evidence and data of how to build better businesses by adopting alternative models and trying to limit the damage done by excessive IP are considered a "threat."

Either way, it should come as little surprise that the Chamber of Commerce is now applauding the fact that Rep. Howard Berman (the Rep from Hollywood, who's never seen a copyright law he couldn't make more draconian) is trying to increase the number of US IP cops trolling the world trying to bully and cajole other countries into implementing more draconian copyright rules, no matter how much it goes against their own self interest. The details are hidden in The Foreign Relations Authorization Act because who could be against that, especially since it also authorizes funds for the Peace Corp?

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Hollywood's Favorite Lawmakers Preparing Next Level Of Draconian Copyright Laws

from the because-ProIP-wasn't-enough dept

Because (of course) last year's ProIP bill that (once again) strengthened copyright laws wasn't enough, Hollywood's favorite lawmakers all got together outside of LA and complained about how copyright laws needed to be even more draconian. They once again quoted the same mythical stats about the damage done by infringement, and didn't hear from a single defender of the public or someone who could explain the basic fact that strengthening copyright law doesn't solve anything. Instead, they just complained, blamed pretty much every foreign country (other than France) and insisted "something must be done!"

Apparently changing their business models to adapt to a changing marketplace has yet to be considered. Not when all of these Congressional Reps from California have no problem swallowing made up stats and misleading fear mongering from an industry unwilling to embrace new business models. Instead, they blame everyone else, including apparently a major session blaming Canada. It's still not clear why Hollywood thinks Canada is such a copyright pariah. The country already has pretty strong copyright laws and doesn't seem to be a haven for piracy at all.

The only country they did seem to like? Apparently that would be France, which just sneakily (after most of Parliament had gone home for the night) passed a three strikes bill. The entertainment industry execs seemed to think this might be a perfect solution -- once again looking to kill off any opportunity to create a better business model, and instead piss off fans and drive them further underground. It's like seeing the same dumb horror movie over and over again, where we the consumers/audience keeps yelling out "no, don't go in there!" and yet they still go in there, make the same mistakes over again and end up only damaging themselves. Is it really that difficult for them to recognize that the business model is the issue, and no amount of increased copyright protection is going to change that?

In the meantime, it's pretty sickening that our elected officials would choose only to hear from one extremely biased side on the debate, and will now introduce legislation that bails out that one industry at the expense of the public. Clearly, these hearings were not to "hear" anything new -- but to put on a puppet show prior to already written (by the industry) legislation to be introduced.

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Rep. Berman: Those Who Don't Like The PRO IP Bill Just Want To Steal Stuff

from the say-what-now? dept

Now, we all know that Rep. Howard Berman, who represents a district right next door to Hollywood is in favor of strengthening intellectual property laws. He's made absolutely no secret of that. It's quite questionable then, as to why he should be considered an impartial overseer of intellectual property laws. But, in a talk on Friday he made some very bizarre statements that make it clear he doesn't care at all what those who disagree with him think. First, he claims that there's not much controversy concerning the PRO IP bill, which is a huge understatement. However, the real kicker, is that when asked about the groups (like the EFF) opposing the bill, he brushes them off as follows:

"There are people who want to steal intellectual property. Their lobby is distributed, diffuse, but unfortunately very popular."

This, ladies and gentleman, is the guy who's in charge of determining our intellectual property laws. He simply assumes that anyone who disagrees with him "wants to steal intellectual property" (which, of course, isn't possible -- you can infringe, but not steal it). But, even more to the point, the folks he's talking about are most certainly not even defending the infringement of copyrights. They're talking about trying to bring the laws more in line with what's reasonable. To paint them all with the brush of defending "stealing" isn't just wrong, it's rather obnoxious.

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Will Howard Berman Step Down From Leading Copyright Subcomittee?

from the the-representative-from-Disney-goes-international dept

A year ago, we noted how ridiculous it was that Congress was allowing Rep. Howard Berman to run the Congressional subcommittee dealing with intellectual property issues. Berman is a well-known supporter of Hollywood and the major record labels (and they, in turn, support him back). He's from LA and has been referred to as "the Representative from Disney" or "Hollywood Howard," and he's yet to meet a bill proposing stricter copyright laws that he hasn't been in favor of approving. As Larry Lessig noted at the time of Berman's appointment, it was like allowing a representative from Detroit to head a committee on auto safety standards. However, Copycense alerts us to a story from the Hollywood Reporter, suggesting that Berman may leave the chairmanship of the subcommittee in order to take on the more prestigious and desired role as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

If Berman does step aside, then the next in line for the job would be Rep. Rick Boucher, who has been a very strong (perhaps the strongest) fighter for consumer rights when it comes to copyright issues. For many, many years he's been pushing to rewrite the DMCA, for example. So having him take over the subcommittee would be big step forward. However, as the Hollywood Reporter notes, Boucher may be too busy on other committees that are more closely related to his Congressional district and the head of the full Committee (the IP part is just a subcommittee), is Rep. John Conyers, another friend of Hollywood, who probably wouldn't allow Boucher to push initiatives that lessened the power of copyright law. If Boucher doesn't take the job, then the article notes it would likely fall to Rep. Jerry Nadler, who represents parts of Manhattan that happen to include many major entertainment companies. It's not clear what Nadler's stance on these issues are, but he was a supporter of the ridiculously backwards bill to extend copyright protection to fashion designs, a policy that is both unnecessary and potentially dangerous to the industry -- suggesting that he's fairly susceptible to poorly reasoned arguments in favor of stronger copyright.

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Justice Department Comes Out Against PRO-IP, While Howard Berman Complains That It's Not Strong Enough

from the compare-and-contrast dept

We've made no secret of how ridiculous we think the new "Pro-IP" bill is. If anything, it's actually anti-IP. Surprisingly, it appears that the Justice Department actually agrees. In hearings on Thursday about the bill, the Justice Department slammed the bill as unnecessary and counterproductive. That's a bit of a shift from the DOJ's point of view under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who started pitching ridiculous IP legislation to have something to talk about other than the controversy surrounding everything else he was doing. Of course, the real reason why the DOJ is against it appears to be that they don't want enforcing copyright laws to be taken away from the DOJ itself, which would happen if the bill becomes law and an "IP Czar" position is created within the Whitehouse.

Of course, not everyone feels that way. Howard Berman, affectionately known as the Representative from Disney, who really should not be in charge of the intellectual property subcommittee, spent some time at those same hearings to suggest that the PRO IP bill doesn't go far enough, and it's time to get rid of the DMCA's safe harbor provisions. Yes, he wants to take about the only reasonable part of the DMCA and get rid of it. Safe harbors for service providers make perfect sense. They make sure that third party tool and service providers aren't held liable for the actions of their users. It's about making sure that companies can't just blame whoever is biggest or easiest to serve with a lawsuit -- but those actually responsible for breaking the law. Berman wants to get rid of those safe harbors, of course, because the entertainment industry hates them. Safe harbors mean they can't get away with, say, suing YouTube for $1 billion, which is much easier than adapting to a changing market place. Berman has always insisted that he's not just pushing Hollywood's perspective, but it's hard to see how that's the case when he makes statements like this.

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