BUSH SIGNS CONTROVERSIAL ANTI-PIRACY LAW

"President George W. Bush signed into law yesterday a controversial bill that would stiffen penalties for movie and music copyright infringement at the federal level. The law creates an intellectual property czar who will report directly to the president on how to better protect copyrights both domestically and internationally. The Justice Department had argued that the creation of this position would undermine its authority." This article, published by BNA deals with an already prevalent issue today. This article however provides a different dimension by recognizing the fact there is now an "intellectual property czar" that reports directly to the president. The question this brings up is whether or not this is a necessary step that the U.S. government really needs to be taking. It has been argued that this bill is unnecessary "because the recording and movie industry had the right to take accused infringers to court." Another argument against this idea points to the fact there are already many penalties for copyright violations. These opposing arguments bring to light another question: Is government overstepping their bounds?