On March 15, 2011, the White House released its White Paper on Intellectual Property Enforcement Legislative Recommendations, outlining a number of proposals for preventing IP-rights violations and for empowering the U.S. government to more effectively enforce copyrights and trademarks, including new punishments proposed for violations.
The 20-page paper (a copy of which is available here) includes suggestions such as legislative action to include unlicensed streaming of content over the Internet within the scope of “distribution”-based copyright violations, which are felonies under federal law. The white paper also suggests extending government wiretapping authority to criminal copyright and trademark cases.
Copyright infringement matters are pursued most commonly in civil court for damages brought by copyright holders. However, the federal government increasingly is taking efforts to pursue and prosecute criminal copyright violations. These efforts have led to arrests and prosecutions, recently including a Houston man, Bryan McCarthy, who was accused of criminal copyright infringement for streaming live video feeds of sporting events on his web site. If convicted, McCarthy faces up to 5 years in jail. Extending the government’s authority for wiretapping of phone lines and web sites would grant the government more control over web content and could facilitate domain-name seizures.
However, some critics warn that excessive government authority to wiretap and seize web sites may lead to a chilling effect on first amendment rights, and a slippery slope to abuse of power. It will be interesting to see the extent to which Congress takes action on the suggestions in the white paper.