Leahy, Cornyn want Justice to sue -- and seize assets of -- individual P2P pirates [View All]

Source: CNET

American peer-to-peer users worried about being sued into oblivion by the recording industry may soon have a much bigger concern: facing off against the U.S. Department of Justice.

Two senators, a Democrat and a Republican, introduced a bill on Wednesday that would unleash the world's largest law firm on Internet pirates. It would authorize the Justice Department to file civil lawsuits against people engaged in peer-to-peer copyright infringement--with the proceeds going to the company or person who owns the copyright.

"This legislation is a simple bill that would give the Department of Justice the authority to prosecute copyright violations as civil wrongs," Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during a hearing on Wednesday. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, is a co-sponsor.

... The new version of the Pirate Act, in addition to civil enforcement, also:

... * Amends existing law dealing with criminal forfeiture. Says that "any property used, or intended to be used, in any manner or part to commit or facilitate the commission" of certain intellectual property offenses is subject to forfeiture. Civil forfeiture is also included. This expands on a recent counterfeit goods-related law.

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