A new bill has been introduced to add strength to US IP protective forces. With the initial creation of the Office of the Intellectual Property Coordinator (IPEC) in the 2008 PRO-IP Act teeth were given for the US to act on IP protection. But, being honest, with the exponential growth of the Internet, streaming, and all things cloud, 2008 is a long time ago and the resources needed to make a significant impact on copyright infringement and piracy are lacking. This bill takes some major steps to correct that.
“In addition to targeting foreign countries in combating IP infringement, the American IDEA Act would also fund local law enforcement as part of an Intellectual Property Enforcement Program under 34 USCS § 30103. The program would allow the Department of Justice to offer grants to eligible state or local law enforcement entities “to aid in the training, prevention, enforcement, and prosecution of intellectual property theft and infringement crimes.” This would include facilitating coordination between state and local law enforcement officers and prosecutors and Federal law enforcement agencies in the enforcement of intellectual property laws.”
The BIG ONE though is that “the American IDEA Act would create a grant program specifically to fund legal aid programs to assist small businesses in protecting their intellectual property. The grant would make funds available to any American Bar Association-accredited law school, state bar association, or legal services organization providing no-cost or low-cost legal advice on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights to small businesses with an estimated annual revenue of not more than $150,000.”
Think about that. If you are a business that makes significant enough income to meet their threshold, you could get FREE IP legal aid. That is huge for soooo many small businesses. With the creation of the Small Claims Court, the main hurdle has been affording legal aid. This Act could solve that issue in one fell swoop. We have our fingers crossed!
PS Look how bad this AI image of “law and order” is. I know there is fear out there of AI, but if this is what it churns out … just saying.
