New legislation known as Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property or Pro-IP is a new addition for pirates to overcome with stiffer penalties and of course more problems for piracy advocates and promoters. The move is to fight large scale counterfeiting operations that has been plaguing music, video and software industries for quite sometime. The law, if passed would bolster the teeth of Federal agencies in their never-ending quest to fight these counterfeiting operations. There were however some concerns with abuse of the said law should it pass but it is still in the works and deliberations are underway and there is still a quite fluid context as the law is discusses and refined. The actual bill is quite extensive and is available online fro the Library of Congress as H.R.4279.IH, H.R.4279.RH and H.R.4279.EH.
Provisions of the law requires that people who are to be accused should be proven in court beyond reasonable doubt of “substantial connection” with the crime and holds penalties of up to $150,000.00 per song. The new law also allows Federal authorities to seize property from counterfeiters. It also encompasses the whole world where specific rules are to be included attuned to local laws. It’s already under discussion in the House and if it passes would be passed onto the Senate for further deliberation and if all goes well, subsequent approval and ratification as a law.