It’s no secret that certain elements in the US Federal Government would like to see all copyright infringement criminalized and the Department of Justice used as an enforcement agency for intellectual property owners. What gets less publicity is the work by the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to similarly effect the law in other countries. Earlier this week the USTR’s office issued a press release declaring victory in one such case against China, but behind their celebration is actually a significant defeat.
Although the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed with US claims that China isn’t living up to their obligation to protect foreign copyrights under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The portion of the treaty in question requires that all participants at least criminalize willful commercial infringement of intellectual property.
Specifically, a WTO panel concluded that the US hadn’t profided any real evidence since it was all in the form of newspaper clippings. According to the WTO report, “the Panel does not ascribe any weight to the evidence in the press articles and finds that, even if it did, the information that these press articles contain is inadequate to demonstrate what is typical or usual in China for the purposes of the relevant treaty obligation.”
The report further admonished the US for substituting claims of bad behavior for evidence of specific wrong doing. The report says “A complaining party may not simply submit evidence and expect the panel to divine from it a claim of WTO-inconsistency. Nor may a complaining party simply allege facts without relating them to its legal arguments.”
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Result for: property owner
Citing “minor input” from the MPAA and RIAA, the Los Angeles County government has now added piracy to its definition of “public nuisance”, meaning all properties used in the dissemination of counterfeit goods can now be seized.
Physically pirated goods, such as bootleg DVDs or CDs, are now considered to be the same as counterfeit watches or handbags.
This new so called “Counterfeit Goods Nuisance Abatement ordinance” says that the counterfeit goods “substantially interfere with … lawful commerce in the county, property values, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, and welfare of the county’s citizens, its businesses, and its visitors.”
Any property owner that knowingly allows piracy on their premises can be held responsible to pay $1000 USD for every, yes every, pirated work produced. The district attorney can also “temporarily restrain, preliminarily enjoin, and/or permanently enjoin the person or persons intentionally conducting, or knowingly maintaining or permitting the public nuisance from further conducting, maintaining, or permitting such public nuisance.”
The ordinance is similar to that of the recent one passed in New York City but this ordinance does not seem to bother those who upload or download pirated movies and music from the Internet.
