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Amongst the many erudite thoughts to drip from the quill of Thomas Jefferson, only one has ever gotten me hot under the collar:

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

Well, that’s all fine and dandy if your estates keep you rolling in tobacco so you can crank out political philosophy all day (lifted, by the way, from the likes of Locke, Rousseau and Machiavelli), but if you’re the taper-maker, you’re going to be a little miffed if someone’s knocking off your products to the point that you’ve got to lay off your workers and people are suing you blind because fugazi tapers with your logos are burning down houses.

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This Monday, the White House signed into law the PRO-IP Act, which will go a long way in helping to curb the problem of counterfeit goods.  Unfortunately, what most folks who watch this area of the law see is a piece of legislation to loathe as much as they loathe the music industry, as something that might impede them from enjoying the media they want, regardless of whether they paid for it or not.  So whineth the pundits at Portfolio.com:

But how much will the new law, the PRO-IP Act, actually do to combat digital piracy? Is it the silver bullet the music business needs to save an industry that is shrinking by hundreds of millions of dollars per year? My answers: Not much, and no.

Nay, nay, dear heart: lift your angry eyes from your iPod and see that this legislation is much bigger than Britney.

This legislation isn’t to save the record industry; it’s to make sure the government is doing it’s job to protect consumers.  It’s to make sure that the replacement parts in your car are legit, and don’t end up causing horrific accidents.  It’s to make sure that the medications you take are legit, and don’t end up killing you.  Most importantly, it’s about saving American jobs (I put concern of country above my own personal well-being, but that’s just me).

Luckily, there are folks out there that get it.  Stephen Koff of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reminds us of the stakes:

Ohio companies including Gorman-Rupp Co., a Mansfield pump manufacturer, and Dana Corp., a Toledo maker of auto parts, could benefit if the bill stops foreign companies from stealing their engineering, packaging and sales literature.

So could Ford, Bendix and smaller companies such as Will-Burt Co. of Orville, whose sales of a lighting system in China declined from $1 million in 2001 to less than $250,000 in 2004 after a Chinese company that was supposed to market Will-Burt products there started selling Will-Burt knockoffs instead.

The bill, pushed by Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich for several years, grew out of complaints by businesses that found themselves competing with illegal, foreign-made products that looked just like their own — down to the UPC codes in some cases.

Well, we’re thankful for heroes like Sen. George Voinovich who are looking out for American manufacturers and workers, as well as Sens. Leahy, Specter and Bayh, who also were the original champions of the legislation.  They understand that it’s about protecting the small and medium businesses that keep our families employed and our economy going – despite the best efforts of mortgage speculators.

As for Mr. Jefferson?  Ironically enough, he was our first pirate hunter, going after the Barbary Pirates.*  So I guess he did know the value of property and commerce.

* Being a Trekkie geek from Boston, it titilates me to no end that he sent both the USS Constitution and the USS Enterprise to throw a Bean-Town beat-down on the Pasha of Tripoli.

The White House has just reported that President Bush today signed the PRO-IP bill, S. 3325, which improves the federal coordination of enforcement of intellectual property protection laws. The Administration had some objections to the legislation, so the signing is good news, indeed.

The NAM had made this a “key vote” issue in Congress. From our letter to the House:

Intellectual property (IP) is the cornerstone of our nation’s economy – U.S. IP is valued at between $5 trillion and $5.5 trillion, equivalent to approximately 45 percent of U.S. GDP. Unfortunately, IP theft in the U.S is responsible for more than $250 billion a year in lost sales and the loss of a significant number of high-paying manufacturing jobs. As such, it is a vital matter for manufacturers, as well as for U.S. workers and the government.

Moreover, the effect of piracy and counterfeiting on consumers poses a far greater concern. Counterfeiting often poses serious health and safety risks to the general public through sub-standard pirated products, including automobile parts, airplane parts, food, medical devices, electrical supplies and pharmaceuticals, to name but a few.

As a founding member of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy, the NAM has worked closely with Congress, policymakers and stakeholders in all sectors affected by IP theft to confront this serious challenge. NAM member companies believe strongly that by improving the coordination of federal government IP enforcement resources, as well as expanding authorities and improving enforcement practices at the international, federal, state and local levels, the PRO-IP Act will strengthen our manufacturing economy.
 

UPDATE (5:10 p.m.): The White House has just e-mailed out a fact sheet highlight the Administration’s support for innovation and its efforts to combat global IP piracy and counterfeiting. It’s 5:10 p.m. on a federal holiday. Sigh.

Anyway, here it is … (continue reading…)

Following on the Institute for Policy Innovation’s homage to “Talk Like a Pirate Day” and their timely press release on the protection of intellectual property rights, is there not a better day than today to blast away at the scourge of counterfeiting and piracy?

American manufacturers have been taking a hammering due to piracy, to the tune of over $250 billion a year in lost revenues and an estimated loss of up to 750,000 jobs so far.  The House jumped to the rescue, passing the PRO-IP Act by a vote of 410-11, and now the Senate is trying to do the same.  Note the operative word, “trying.”

The “Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008,” (S. 3325) will go a long way to help shore up IP rights of manufacturers.  But it’s not just about manufacturers, it’s about workers and consumers.  Oh, and let’s not forget the economy, either.  Unfortunately, the Senate IP bill is hitting some snags on the GOP side of the aisle, even though this is truly a bi-partisan bill.  And that’s the sad part, as this is something that everyone agrees needs to be fixed.

The Senate IP bill is definitely the last, best chance this year to help aforementioned workers, consumers and economy.  If we don’t get it done in the next week, the tides won’t be right for this for probably another two years, what with the new Congress and Administration focusing on bigger fish to fry. And that’s going to hurt a lot of folks.

Specifically, workers are going to be hurt because counterfeit junk displaces the quality products that US workers make (and are often unwittingly bought by consumers).  A study by economics firm LECG figured that cutting piracy by even 5-10% would create at least 174,000 new tax-paying jobs a year, after 3 years.  In case you didn’t know, pirates don’t pay taxes.  I guess that’s the allure of being a brigand, although I don’t know if scurvy factors in on the downside.

Consumers are going to be hurt because a critical check on counterfeit auto parts, airplane parts, food, medical devices, electrical supplies and pharmaceuticals will be missing.  And don’t forget the economy.  LECG also estimates that cutting piracy by 10% would increase the overall US economic output by at least $27 billion, as domestic production would reclaim the market from pirate imports.

You’d think that in the face of all the harm that piracy has done to the US economy, American workers and consumers, Congress would try to find a way around the minor roadblocks and, paraphrasing H.L. Mencken, “spit on their hands, haul up the black flag and start slitting throats.”