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September 29, 2008 5:28 AM PDT

Intellectual property bill passes in the House

by Stephanie Condon
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The House of Representatives on Sunday cleared the intellectual property enforcement bill that would create an "IP coordinator" position in the White House.

The legislation, formally known as the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act, or Pro-IP, passed unanimously in the Senate on Friday.

The Bush administration last week sent a letter to Congress stating its opposition to certain measures, including the creation of an IP coordinator. It is unclear whether the administration supports the bill as it was passed.

The bipartisan legislation passed in the House 341-41, with dissenters on both sides of the aisle. The measure has received wide support from the business community, including from groups like the Recording Industry Association of America and the AFL-CIO, but it is opposed by public interest groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge.

Stephanie Condon is a staff writer for CNET News focused on the intersection of technology and politics. She is based in Washington, D.C. E-mail Stephanie.
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by Lerianis September 29, 2008 6:28 AM PDT
What will this law do?...... ABSOLUTELY N O T H I N G! Sing it with me, yeah! Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, no-thing!

I swear, how stupid are the RIAA and MPAA for pushing these types of laws. Here's a newsflash for them: Hey yo, youse wanna stop piracy? Come here, let Mickey tell you what to do: LOWER YOUR PRICES! GET RID OF DRM! STOP TAKING YOUSE OWN CUSTOMERS FOR A RIDE!
Do these three things, and piracy (at least on a commercial scale) will disappear.
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by Renegade Knight September 29, 2008 7:22 AM PDT
The RIAA and MPAA break laws designed to prevent collusion.
by inachu September 29, 2008 8:13 AM PDT
This move is the last move before the entire concept just falls apart.
I hope at least some provisions were added for small independant inventors to protect them from Corporate IP theives.
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by unknown unknown September 29, 2008 11:02 AM PDT
I am waiting for copyright law to so ridiculously draconian that people can't do anything and the whole thing collapses. Copyright is already a joke with certain groups buying legislation. They all benefit from the public domain, but they buy extensions and other laws to keep there stuff from going to into the public for benefit of others.
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by neghvar September 29, 2008 5:52 PM PDT
If they really want to solve the piracy problem, go after the overseas cartels that are making billions of the copyrighted content.
Oh, wait! They have big guns and hitmen
It's like prosecuting john doe for keying your car instead of the big bad guy putting those 50 cal. holes in your car
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