VIDEOGAME PIRACY IS FOCUS OF CONGRESSIONAL CAUCUS

International piracy of videogames and other intellectual property is the target of a new congressional caucus announced Tues., with co-chmn. from both parties and both the House and Senate. “There are a lot of caucuses on the Hill, we all know that,” Entertainment Software Assn. Pres. Douglas Lowenstein said, but this one will be “focused” on crime that costs U.S. companies billions. Caucus Co-Chmn. Goodlatte (R-Va.), who also co-chairs the House Internet Caucus, told us he had lost track of how many caucuses he belonged to, but insisted that the Congressional International Piracy Caucus would “look like a laser beam” at piracy.

The focus of the 59-member caucus is to use appropriate Hill committees to prod the Administration and foreign govts. to crack down on piracy, offline and online. Sen. Smith (R-Ore.), one caucus co-chmn., said the State Dept., Dept. of Justice and the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR’s) office would be among those receiving pressure. (Officials of all 3 agencies were present at a U.S. Capitol news conference, and a USTR official there praised the caucus.) Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Biden (Del.), another co-chmn., said the caucus could press for appropriations to foreign govts.: “Countries may have the will [to enforce antipiracy laws] but not the ability.” He said many countries might offer to help because it’s “something they could give us” in return for U.S. support, and would be easier than other things the U.S. requests, such as antiterrorism or antidrug campaigns.

Sponsoring or backing legislation apparently won’t be part of the caucus’s role, although many members have been involved in legislative efforts on intellectual property in the past. The other co-chmn. is Rep. Schiff (D-Cal.), who represents Hollywood studios and in the last Congress considered introducing a bill similar to that of then-Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Hollings (D-S.C.) pushing for digital rights management (DRM) solutions, Schiff told us Tues. He said he’s evaluating a measure he hoped to introduce later this Congress on piracy and Internet file- sharing. Schiff told us the proposed legislation wouldn’t press for DRM but would take “an entirely new approach,” but he wasn’t ready to discuss it publicly.

Several members active in intellectual property issues belong to the new caucus, including House Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Conyers (Mich.); Courts, Internet & Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Smith (R-Tex.) and Goodlatte, who is vice chmn. of the subcommittee; Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.), House Govt. Reform Committee ranking Democrat Waxman (Cal.) and Sens. Allen (R-Va.), Boxer (D-Cal.) and Feinstein (D-Cal.).

Rep. Lofgren (D-Cal.) also belongs; she’s the author of legislation that would protect fair use rights of digital content, but always has insisted she opposes piracy. Missing from the list is House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Boucher (D-Va.), who like Lofgren has a fair use bill but says he opposes piracy. Others not members include Senate Judiciary Committee Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah) and House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R- Wis.), House Judiciary Courts Subcommittee ranking Democrat Berman (D-Cal.) and Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R- Ariz.) and ranking Democrat Hollings. Both Berman and Hollings in the last Congress introduced bills targeting piracy, and Berman has another one in this Congress that is being folded in part into a separate bill by Smith.

Piracy “is a big deal,” Biden said, and “the question remains, ‘What are we going to be able to do about what is in essence a theft of American assets?'” He said promoting trade agreements with strong intellectual property provisions would be a start, along with persuading countries to adopt intellectual property laws and to enforce them. Many caucus members referred to trips abroad where they had seen piracy firsthand, and Schiff said caucus members would make use of codels, or congressional delegations, to press for antipiracy enforcement.

Biden also hoped caucus would prompt “civil discourse” on piracy. He said that with Internet file sharing, people seemed to believe that “if technology is able to be used, you should be able to use it unfettered,” but compared with that the right to use a gun just because it’s loaded.

The caucus’s first action was to issue a 2003 International Piracy Watch List of 5 countries it would monitor: (1) Brazil, which USTR said produced the largest losses to piracy in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. govt. is reviewing whether Brazil still qualifies for preferential trade duties due to lax intellectual property enforcement. (2) China, which has revised intellectual property laws but according to USTR isn’t enforcing them. More than 90% of intellectual property goods in China are estimated to be counterfeit. (3) Pakistan, which has seen piracy production double in the last year, according to the USTR. One caucus member, Rep. Berkley (D-Nev.), said intelligence briefings suggested terrorists were funded in part by piracy. (4) Russia, which the USTR said had weak protection and growing piracy. Russia, like Brazil, also is under review to ascertain whether its trade preferences could be maintained given its piracy problems. (5) Taiwan, which has bolstered its enforcement capacity but hasn’t produced results, the USTR said.

The new caucus was backed not only by ESA but by the RIAA, MPAA, Business Software Alliance and the Assn. of American Publishers.