Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2006

Bill: 109-hr-5921
Sponsor: Rep. Sensenbrenner, F. James, Jr. [R-WI-5]
Introduced: 2006-07-27 in the House
Policy area: Commerce
Subjects: Americans in foreign countries
Arts, Culture, Religion
Business records
China
Compensation for victims of crime
Computer crimes
Confidential communications
Conspiracy
Copyright
Counterfeiting
Crime and Law Enforcement
Criminal investigation
Damages
Department of Justice
Discovery (Law)
East Asia
Europe
Executive reorganization
Export controls
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Federal advisory bodies
Federal law enforcement officers
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Forfeiture
Fraud
Government Operations and Politics
Hong Kong
Hungary
Identification devices
Import restrictions
Information technology
Injunctions
Intellectual property
International Affairs
International cooperation
Internet
Labeling
Labor and Employment
Larceny
Law
Motion pictures
Music
Packaging
Police training
Prosecution
Public prosecutors
Recruiting of employees
Science, Technology, Communications
Sound recording and reproducing
Video tape recording

Summary:
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: 
Intellectual Property Enhanced Criminal Enforcement Act of 2006 - Amends federal copyright law to: (1) provide that copyright registration requirements apply to civil (not criminal) infringement actions; (2) allow a court to issue a protective order to prevent disclosure of seized records relating to copyright infringement; (3) allow a court to treat parts of a copyrighted work as separate works for purposes of assessing statutory damages; (4) impose criminal penalties for attempts and conspiracies to commit copyright infringement; and (5) prohibit importing and exporting of infringing copies of copyrighted works.

Amends the federal criminal code to increase penalties for: (1) trafficking in counterfeit labels or packaging; (2) criminal infringement of copyrights; (3) unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in reproductions of live musical performances; (4) unauthorized recording of motion pictures; and (5) trafficking in counterfeit goods or services.

Provides for civil forfeiture of property used to facilitate copyright infringement and restitution for victims of such infringement. 
 
Directs the Attorney General to: (1) create an operational unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to assist in the investigation and coordination of intellectual property crimes; (2) implement a comprehensive program to train FBI agents in the investigation and prosecution of such crimes; (3) assign federal prosecutors to Justice Department offices in Hong Kong and Budapest to coordinate international enforcement of intellectual property laws; and (4) create a task force to develop and implement a plan to investigate and prosecute international organized crime syndicates involved in theft of intellectual property.
 
Authorizes additional funding through FY2011 to investigate and prosecute criminal activity involving computers. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Introduced in House