Bush Signs Law Creating Intellectual Property Enforcer

October 13, 2008 11:45 p.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - President George W. Bush signed into law Monday the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act to protect multi-trillion dollars worth of U.S. innovation exports against piracy.

The law establishes a cabinet rank IP enforcement coordinator, who will take the lead in the government's fight against copyright infringers. The law also raises fines for copyright violations and increases the budget of the Department of Justice in going after counterfeiters and pirates.

The Recording Industry Association of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and copyright holders such as NBC Universal as well as the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations are supporting the new law. However, public-advocacy groups such as the American Library Association, Public Knowledge, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the law would only benefit big media companies instead of the public and artists.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates the worth of U.S. intellectual property at $5 trillion with more than half of this amount exported.