Legislative Solution

What Can We Do About Online Theft?

We can’t afford to sit back and watch online thieves steal American products.  Online theft is endangering U.S. jobs and consumers and is hampering our economic growth.  We need to take reasonable steps to address this problem  both to protect consumers as well as to further strengthen the digital marketplace. One starting point to address this problem is to shut down these rogue websites—the worst of the worst online infringers—that everyone agrees have no place in a thriving legitimate online market.  We don’t allow stores dedicated to selling stolen goods to operate. Why should rogue websites that break the law be any different?

Legislative Solutions -

Stop Online Piracy Act

On October 26, 2011, Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), and Howard Berman(D-CA), along with 8 other cosponsors, introduced H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act. The Stop Online Piracy Act ensures that law enforcement and job creators have the necessary tools to protect American intellectual property from cyber-based counterfeiting and piracy.

PROTECT IP Act
On May 12, 2011, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), along with Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and a bipartisan group of nine other original co-sponsors, introduced S. 968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act—
the PROTECT IP Act. This act would cut off foreign rogue sites that steal American jobs, hamper our economic growth,and harm our consumers.

Today, the PROTECT IP Act enjoys the support of 35 cosponsors representing all walks of life around the U.S.

PROTECT IP Act Fact Sheets

What Rogue Sites Legislation Would Do:

  • The act authorizes the U.S. Department of Justice to file a civil action against foreign rogue sites to obtain an order from the court if the site is “dedicated to infringing activity.” Such an order, if granted, requires Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and search engines not to link or connect users to the rogue site and will require payment processors and online advertising networks to cut off the flow of money to the rogue site. It will get them off our computers and out of our marketplace.
     
  • The act gives rights owners the authority to bring action against rogue sites, whether domestic or foreign, but limits the court order to payment processors and online advertising networks. The act also encourages and protects strategic partners when they take voluntary action to cut off rogue sites, including sites that illegally peddle prescription medication without requiring a prescription.
     
  • The act provides the same notice and other due process protections available in all other federal cases, giving the domain name owners or site operators the right to defend themselves in court. In addition, it goes even further by allowing them to return after the case is over and convince the court that the website is no longer dedicated to IP theft.